Thiruvananthapuram Rise in prices of essential commodities owing to hike in fuel prices will affect a consumer state like Kerala badly, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday. The Centre should back out from its policy of raising fuel prices incessantly, said CM to the attention of CH Kunjabdu in a reply in the Assembly. Centre should halt its practice of raising Excise Duty constantly even as international prices recede , said CM.
After the Centre let go its control of fuel prices in 2010 and 2014, the cost of diesel and petrol are rising without respite. The Centre’s argument that consumers would receive reduction benefit once international crude prices go down, is not true. Each time the global prices receded, the Centre raised Excise Duty to keep the prices high.
In the past six-year tenure of the central government, prices of petrol and diesel were raised by 307 percent. In this year of 2021 alone, prices were upped 19 times up to now.
There are four types of Excise Duties the Centre levies on fuels - Basic Excise Duty, Special Additional Excise Duty, Agriculture, and Block Development Cess and Additional Excise Duty pllus Road Infrastructure Cess. States are handed no share in these, except for the Basic Excise Duty. And at each hike, the Centre raises only the Duties not shareable with the states.
According to statistics released by the government in February 2021, only 4 rupees out of Rs 67 raised, would be shareable the states and it is amid such existing conditions that Centre instructs states to lower their side of the tax, said CM.
