Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will be imposing ₹ one cess on petrol, diesel and ethanol to mop up revenue for funding its five guarantee schemes as well as taking up other developmental works that have been shelved due to lack of funds.
The decision has come close on the heels of the Centre reducing GST slabs across the lines, resulting in prices of essential commodities coming down.
Soon after the GST revision by the centre, the Karnataka government had given an additional target of ₹ 10,000 crore to the Excise department by revising the prices of fast moving liquor being used by the middle class. Besides, the government has invited bids for allotting new 500 liquor shop licences.
Just last week, the government increased the price of Nandini brand ghee manufactured by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) by ₹ 90. After the GST revision, the Nandini ghee price had reduced by ₹ 40, but the state government increased it by ₹ 90.
At the moment, the government is also planning to extend its social welfare schemes to unorganised sector labourers or gig workers and imposing a cess on petrol is estimated to yield a revenue of around ₹ 2100 to ₹ 2500 crore.
Besides, most of the legislators are up in arms as the government has not released any Legislator Area Development Funds since formation of the government. Though some funds were released to Congress legislators, the spending of the funds largely was in the hands of the district administrations. The MLAs hardly had any say in that. Now, during the halfway mark of the tenure, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is planning to allocate at least ₹ 50 crore to ₹ 100 crore for each constituency in the state.
The proposal will be passed in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
