An appeal not criticism says PM Modi to CMs on petrol, diesel tax

New Delhi, Apr 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi while reacting to the rising fuel prices has appealed to the states ruled by the Opposition to reduce tax on fuel.

This is the Prime Minister's first reaction to the rise in fuel prices.

He said that a few states who could not reduce prices last November, should do it now. He said that states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Telangana, Kerala,

Maharashtra and Jharkhand did not reduce tax on fuel and should do it now.

Had Karnataka not reduced its tax on petrol and diesel, the state government would have earned an additional revenue of Rs 5,000 crore, the PM said.

The PM also emphases on the need for Centre-State cooperation and said that this is more needed in the present war situation when the country is facing many challenges due to a disruption in supply chain.

PM Modi said that the Centre waived the duty last year to reduce the burden on the people. Some states abided by our appeal reduce taxes, while others did not. This is in a way detrimental to the economy of other states.

Gujarat could have made an additional Rs 3,500 crore had it not reduced the burden. He however added that he is not criticising, but only appealing to the state Chief Ministers.

The Prime Minister said that in order to reduce the load of petrol and diesel prices central government has reduced the excise duty and had requested the states also to reduce taxes. some states reduced taxes but some states did not pass on the benefits to the people, leading higher cost of petrol and diesel in these states. This is not only injustice towards the people of the state but harms the neighbouring states also. He said that states like Karnataka and Gujarat undertook the tax reduction for the welfare of the people despite revenue loss while their neighbouring states earned revenue by not reducing tax.

Similarly, the Prime Minister said that last November a request was made to reduce VAT but many states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jharkhand did not do so for some reason. The Prime Minister said 42 per cent of the revenue at centre goes to State governments. "I urge all the states to work as a team in this time of global crisis following the spirit of cooperative federalism", The Prime Minister requested.

The PM took part in a meeting with the Chief Ministers to review the COVID-19 situation in the country. He said that we have seen how Omicron and its sub-variants wreaked havoc in Europe. In the last few months several countries have seen a surge. Compared to those nations, India has kept the situation under control, he also added.

'It's a matter of pride for every citizen that 96% of our adult population has been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine and 85 % of the eligible population above 15 years of age inoculated with the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine,'' PM Modi said after interacting with state CMs on the Covid-19 situation in the country.

''Coordination between state & Centre is very important...(Ukraine) war has affected the supply chain which has posed many challenges. Hence Cooperative Federalism is important...Scaling-up of manpower & medical infrastructure was also discussed in today's COVID review meeting,'' he further said.