Opposition stages walkout on fuel tax issue in MP Assembly

Bhopal, Feb 20: Dissatisfied with Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya's reply over the state's hefty levy on fuel, the opposition Congress today walked out of the House during the ongoing budget session of the MP Assembly.

During the Question Hour, Congress member Ramniwas Rawat asked the government to furnish details of the actual price of fuel - petrol, diesel and cooking gas cylinders - at which it was made available to Madhya Pradesh, and thereafter the cost at which it was provided to the end users after imposing various taxes on it.

The state government was imposing heavy taxes on the fuel and burning a hole in the pocket of the consumers, he said adding that the prices of petrol and diesel were too high in MP as compared to the neighbouring states. Rawat also sought to know whether the government planned to reduce fuel taxes to give relief to poor people.

To this, Malaiya said that the government does not have any plan to curtail the taxes on fuel. He also said that Rawat's question was more like a speech than a query. He tried to convince Rawat over issue, but the dissatisfied Opposition staged the walkout and shouted slogans for a while.

Before Rawat, Deputy Leader of Opposition Bala Bachchan sought to know the international price of crude oil. He too said that the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas cylinders were too high in MP compared to neighbouring states.

He also sought to know from the state government whether it has any plans to reduce taxes on the fuel. In his reply, Malaiya said the state does not produce crude oil and thus, the question was irrelevant and told the House that there was no plan to curtail state taxes of fuel. Later, Rawat told reporters in the Assembly premises that the government gave unconvincing reply on the sky-high prices of fuel in the state and added that the consumers were suffering because of it.

PTI