Kolkata: Urging the Centre to reduce the cess on fuel prices, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced that her government has decided to reduce the tax on petrol and diesel by Re 1 per litre. “We demand the Central government to reduce the cess on petrol and diesel. The price of crude oil has gone down, but they are increasing the prices and cess. Both cannot happen simultaneously. The state government does not get any percentage from the cess.
“In this situation, our government has decided to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel by one rupee per litre,” she said at the state Secretariat Nabanna. She also said mismanagement is going on.The cess imposed by Central government has been increased and no attempts are being made to bring stability in the fuel prices, Banerjee alleged. “In January, 2016 the petrol price was Rs 65.12 a litre and in September 2018 the price has risen to Rs 81.5 per litre. So the petrol price has gone up by Rs 16.48 per litre. Diesel price was Rs 48.80 a litre in 2016 ,now it has risen to Rs 73.26 per litre, which is a hike of Rs 24.46,” Banerjee said.
