Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged opposition-ruled states to reduce value added tax on fuel. Underling the need for better coordination between the centre and states, PM Modi said some states had done “injustice” to people when they did not reduce Value Added Tax on petrol and diesel when the Centre reduced excise duty last November.
The Prime Minister pointed out that 42 per cent of the revenue at centre goes to State government urging states to work as a team in this time of global crisis following the spirit of cooperative federalism.
He said, “Some states reduced taxes but some states did not give any benefit of this to the people. Due to this, the prices of petrol and diesel in these states continue to remain high. In a way, this is not only injustice to the people of these states but it also has an impact on neighbouring states.”
He said states like Karnataka and Gujarat reduced VAT on fuel and passed on the benefits to people, despite the move hurting their treasuries.
He also named Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu as states that did not cut taxes and said that citizens of those states continued to be burdened.
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The Prime Minister also said that with increasing temperature, fire incidents in forests and buildings are increasing. He specially asked for the fire safety audits of the hospitals. He said our arrangements for meeting this challenge should comprehensive and our response time should be the minimum.
