Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Nalgonda Capt. N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday demanded the central and state governments reduce the prices of petrol, diesel, and gas and ease the burden on the common people.
He was speaking at the protest demonstration at a petrol pump near the secretariat against the spiraling prices of petrol and diesel. The TPCC has taken up the program as part of nationwide protests being held by the Congress party.
Addressing the leaders and workers of the party, he said that the high taxes being levied by the BJP government at the Centre and TRS government at the state level are reasons for the steep rise of petrol and diesel prices.
He lamented that the lives of the poor and middle-class people were in utter distress due to the apathy of the central and state governments. Both the Modi and KCR governments at the central and state level respectively have made life miserable for the people.
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He said that the price of petrol has crossed the Rs 100 per liter mark in several places of the country. He said that the petrol prices have risen by Rs 25 and diesel by Rs 23.90 in just one year.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has got the dubious distinction of raising the prices of petrol and diesel 43 times in one year. The TRS government at the state level has also cast a burden on the people by raising the VAT,” he said.
He said that under BJP and TRS governments at the central and state levels respectively, Telangana’s citizens are paying more tax on petrol than its actual cost. About 60 per cent of petrol and 53 per cent of diesel prices comprise central (excise) and state (VAT) taxes.
He said that since coming into power in 2014, both BJP and TRS have increased taxes on petrol, diesel, and gas frequently. He said that the retail price of LPG refill has doubled, from around Rs 410 in 2014 to around Rs 850 now.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that during the Congress-led UPA government period, the total tax collected on petrol and diesel in 2013 was Rs. 52,537 crores. In 2014, the Mod government collected more than Rs 72,000 crores in the form of taxes on petrol and diesel.
He said that excise collections were over Rs 3 lakh crores in the year 2020 alone.
In its first four years, i.e. from 2014 to 2018, the Modi government collected about Rs 11 lakh crores in the form of taxes on petrol and diesel. It has become possible since the Modi government has steeply increased excise duties on fuel.
He said that in April 2014, when UPA-II demitted office, the excise duty on liter petrol was Rs 9.48 and diesel was Rs 3.56. Excise duty has now increased by over 2.5 times on petrol and almost 8 times on diesel.
Criticizing the TRS government in the state that it was equally responsible for the rise in petrol and diesel prices, he said that in 2014, before the division of the combined Andhra Pradesh, the then Congress government had levied VAT of 31 percent on petrol and 22.25 percent on diesel. But the TRS government increased it in 2015.
As of now, the Telangana government has been collecting a VAT of 35.2 per cent on petrol and 27 per cent on diesel. Telangana’s VAT on petrol is the third highest in the country, after Rajasthan and Manipur. He said that Telangana’s VAT on diesel is the second-highest in the country after Odisha.
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He said that though the crude oil prices were low in the international market, prices of diesel and petrol were much high in the country. He said that the price of crude oil fell drastically in the last seven years (2014- 2021). However, this benefit was not passed on to the consumers as the central and state governments have kept on increasing the taxes and burdened the consumers.
He said that the crude oil prices have come down to $ 60.47 per barrel in 2019-20 from $ 105 per barrel in 2013-2014. Without passing on the benefit to the common people, the central and state governments have been looting them, he alleged.
The Congress leaders have mocked the central and state governments by having flowers in the ears, symbolically. They have raised slogans against the state and central governments.
AICC official spokesperson Dasoju Sravan, former president of PCC Ponnala Laxmaiah, former MP Anjan Kumar Yadav, and APCC leader B Kishan have participated in the protest.
SOURCE-NSS
