KTR blames Modi for fuel price hike

Hyderabad: Telangana IT and Industry Minister K T Rama Rao lashed out on the BJP-led Central government for reducing the windfall tax on crude oil instead of transferring the benefit to the common man through the means of lowering petrol and diesel prices. KTR accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for being insensitive to the interests of the citizens while favoring a handful of corporate companies.

"The Union government did not reduce the petrol prices, but has brought down the taxes paid by the corporates. This clearly shows that corporate companies are a top priority for the Central government," said KTR.

He said that around Rs 35,000 crore was saved by importing crude oil from Russia at a discounted price but only two or three companies benefited from it. KTR added that corporate companies refined the crude oil bought from Russia and exported it to other countries. He demanded to know as to why the Central government had issued permission to export the crude oil bought from Russia, instead of utilising it within the country. "Ordinary Indian citizens did not benefit from it. Who is pocketing profits of the company?" KTR questioned.

Finding fault with the blame-game of the Centre for accounting States, like Telangana, for higher petrol prices, KTR pointed out that the cess imposed by the Centre is actual the reason for the hike and added that Rs 30 lakh crore was collected in the form of cess. He also said that the Value Added Tax (VAT) was not increased in Telangana since 2014. The State Industry minister said that the price of petrol can be slashed to Rs 70 per litre and diesel to Rs 60 per litre only if the Centre scraps the cess.