Uddhav Thackeray attacks Centre on fuel price row

Unhappy  with the Central government's reduction in rates of petrol and diesel, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday stated that the excise duty should be brought down further to what it was six or seven years ago. In a statement, Uddhav Thackeray censured the Centre for the minimal reduction of excise duty on fuel. “The central government had hiked excise duty on petrol by Rs 18.42 per litre two months ago and today it has reduced it by Rs 8. Excise duty on diesel was also increased by Rs 18.24 and has now been reduced by Rs 6,” Uddhav Thackeray said.He added, "It is not right to increase prices at exorbitant rate first and then reduce rates nominally.

"The chief minister said that the citizens of the country will be truly relieved only if the excise duty is reduced to what it was six or seven years ago, without getting entangled in the web of statistics.Earlier on Saturday, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the Union government was "reducing the central excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre."She added, "This will reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and of siesel by Rs 7 per litre."She said this reduction in excise will have a revenue implication of around Rs one lakh crore per year for the government.Sitharaman also encouraged the state governments to further reduce their taxes. She said, "I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man."Meanwhile, leader of opposition in Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis hailed the decision of the central government and urged the state government to provide relief to the people.