Akalis have no right to criticise petrol price hike: Congress

Chandigarh, Jan 18 (PTI) Punjab Congress unit chiefCapt Amarinder Singh today said the ruling Akali-BJP combinehad no right to criticise hike in prices of petroleum productsand demanded that the state government should withdraw thetaxes that it had imposed on fuel sales.

Punjab government follows an ad valorem tax structureon fuel prices, which means that whenever there is an increasein the rates of fuel, the tax collection also moves upproportionately.

In a statement here, Singh said the state governmentwas to be equally blamed for the hike as it had imposed manytaxes on petrol, which was costlier by Rs 6.40 as compared toHaryana and other states.

The Akali-BJP combine had imposed VAT, cess, surchargeand octroi on petrol in Punjab which has made the petrolcostlier here, he said.

Singh said the Centre cannot do much about the pricessince they were determined in the international oil market.

But the state government can certainly reduce the extra cessand taxes it has imposed on petrol in the state.