To protest against the government for not reducing the taxes on petroleum products, the legislators from the opposition Congress-led UDF on Thursday reached the Assembly on bicycles.
Kerala Finance Minister Rules Out Further Deductions
The Centre’s “Diwali gift” of reducing the prices on petroleum products came on November 4. Following this, the petrol price per litre came down by Rs 12.27 and the diesel price fell by Rs 6.30. The average price of one-litre petrol in the state was Rs 103.80 and diesel stood at Rs 91.59. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka’s respective governments decided to reduce the state’s portion in the tax component.
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However, Kerala Finance Minister K.N Balagopal ruled out any further reduction in the taxes. He said that it was the Centre that had raised the taxes while the state government never increased them. And following this, Kerala wasn’t duty-bound to reduce the taxes
Opposition Took Up The Issue On The House
Following his statement, on Thursday morning, a dozen of legislators from the Congress party and its allies cycles through the roads followed by a couple of press photographers. Leader of Opposition V.D Satheesan who led the cyclists said that both Centre and state have been taking on the people on account of the fuel prices. And they have been demanding from the state government for a long time to come to the rescue of the people.
With the rising prices of fuel, other prices are also spiraling around and the state government has been “silent spectator”. He said that they will continue to protest against the state government for their attitude.
The opposition took up the same issue on the floor of the House as well.
