Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday hit back at Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the issue of reducing taxes on petrol and diesel.
He took to Twitter and wrote,"Maharashtra Govt has collected Rs 79,412 cr as fuel taxes since 2018 & is expected to collect Rs 33,000 cr this year. (Adding up to Rs 1,12,757 cr). Why did it not reduce VAT on petrol & diesel to provide relief to people?"
"Petrol will be cheaper if opposition-ruled states cut taxes on fuel instead of imported liquor! Maharashtra govt imposes Rs 32.15/ltr on petrol and Congress-ruled Rajasthan Rs 29.10 But BJP ruled Uttarakhand levies only Rs 14.51 & UP Rs 16.50," he added.
In view of the increasing COVID cases, PM Modi held a video conferencing with the Chief Ministers of all the states and discussed more on other issues rather than health issues.
The Prime Minister called upon opposition-ruled states to follow the Centre's decision by reducing taxes on petrol and diesel to provide relief to the people from the price hike.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray hit back and said that the state government cannot be held responsible for the spike in fuel prices.
"Today, in the price of one litre of diesel in Mumbai, Rs 24.38 is for the Centre and Rs 22.37 is for the state. In petrol price, 31.58 paise is central tax and 32.55 paise state tax. Therefore, it is not a fact that petrol and diesel have become more expensive due to the state," he said.
Thackeray said that Maharashtra collects the highest GST of 15 per cent in the country. Combining both direct taxes and GST, Maharashtra is the number one state in the country."