Buckling under pressure, the Meghalaya government has today decided to reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) by 7 per cent on petrol and diesel.
The State cabinet which met here today decided to reduce the VAT on petrol from 20 per cent to 13.5 per cent per litre. Further, the VAT on diesel has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent per litre.
With this decision, the retail price of petrol and diesel in the State will come down by Rs 10.
Briefing media persons, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said the new rates will be implemented from tonight.
It may be mentioned that the Central government had on November 3 slashed central excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 and diesel by Rs 10. It had also asked all states to follow suit by cutting down the VAT on the two petroleum products.
A day after the central excise duty on fuel was reduced by the Centre, seven North East states comprising Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura also decided to cut VAT on petrol and diesel prices by 7 per cent.
Earlier today, the Hynñiewtrep Youth Council (HYC) had petitioned Chief Minister Conrad Sangma seeking reduction of VAT on petrol and diesel in the State.
“After the Central government took a welcomed step by cutting down central excise duty on petrol and diesel and also after most states in the North East reduced VAT on fuel, we request the Meghalaya government to also slash VAT on the two petroleum products so as to provide relief to the common man and check inflation,” HYC general secretary Roy Kupar Synrem said today.
It may be recalled that on November 3 Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had said that it was difficult to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel as the State would lose revenue to the tune of around Rs 100 crore.
Sangma said that last year, the State’s revenue from taxes on petrol and diesel was around Rs 500 crore to Rs 550 crore but after the government bowed to pressure from the public and VAT were reduced this year, the revenue came down to around Rs 400 crore.
He also said that the VAT on petrol and diesel in Meghalaya was the lowest in the country. According to him, there are states charging up to 36 per cent VAT on the two fuels.
Meanwhile, the A’chik Holistic Awakening Movement (AHAM) and Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) have welcomed the decision of the state government.
“We are grateful to the Chief Minister for giving us his support,” AHAM vice president George Prince Cheran Momin said in a statement. He said the organisation hopes that the government would be proactive in other developmental issues in the region too as well as reduction in the price of LPG to relieve the common man.
