Roll back excise duty hike on fuel, demands Maken

New Delhi: The Delhi Congress on Friday demanded that the Centre and AAP government roll back the increased excise duty and VAT on petroleum products to provide relief to people from constant rise in petrol and diesel prices.

Addressing a press conference here, DPCC chief Ajay Maken alleged that the main reason for the prices of petrol and diesel going up was that the BJP-led Centre increased the excise duty nine times in the past four years, while the AAP government increased VAT on gasoline (petroleum products) twice.

Mr Maken claimed that if the hike in excise duty and VAT on petrol and diesel is rolled back, then petrol and diesel could be sold in Delhi for Rs 40-45.

The Congress leader alleged that if the AAP does not want to do any work, it blames the lieutenant-governor, telling the people that the L-G was creating “roadblocks” in the functioning of its government.

Giving the example of the Delhi Value Added Tax (2nd Amendment) Act, 2015, Mr Maken said, “The Delhi Assembly had passed the Bill on June 30, which was approved by the L-G on July 10, 2015.

“The Lt Governor approved the Bill within ten days after it was passed by the Assembly as the Bill increased VAT on petroleum products from 20 per cent to 30 per cent, which meant that the AAP and the BJP wanted VAT on petroleum products increased. As a result the prices of petrol and diesel shot up in Delhi.”

He alleged that “both BJP and AAP’s hand-in-glove was evident when the prices of petrol and diesel were touching the sky”.

“The Aam Aadmi Party instead of protesting against it, did not even whisper a single word against it which showed the mutual understanding between the Bharatiya Janata Party and AAP,” Mr Maken claimed.