High duty on diesel, petrol to fund infra spending: Govt
New Delhi, Jul 28 : Even as Opposition parties remain up in arms against rising fuel prices, the government on Wednesday said that higher duty on petrol and diesel are aimed at generating resources for infrastructure building and other developmental projects.
“The excise duty rates on petrol and diesel have been calibrated to generate resources for infrastructure and other developmental items of expenditure keeping in view the present fiscal position,” said Minister of State (MoS) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli in Rajya Sabha.
The Minister said this in written reply to a question by Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya asking whether there is any consideration for reducing the additional duty charged on petroleum products by central government.
High prices of diesel and petrol have been one of the main issues raised by opposition parties in and out of Parliament.
On the query as to what steps have been taken to address the constant rise in fuel prices, MoS Teli said that prices of petrol and diesel have been market-determined with effect from June 26, 2010 and October 19, 2014 respectively.
“Since then, Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been taking appropriate decisions on pricing of petrol and diesel on the basis of international product prices and other market conditions. The OMCs have increased and decreased prices of petrol and diesel according to changes in international prices and rupee dollar exchange rate,” the Minister said in the Upper House.
Petrol prices have surged over the past one year and recently crossed Rs 100 a litre mark in many cities including Delhi and Mumbai. There have been public uproar against the spike as high prices have weighed heavy on the pockets of common man.
The central government has often attributed the high fuel prices to an increase in global crude price.
“The price of crude has not been decreasing continuously in last six months. On the contrary, price of crude was 54.79 $/bbl in the month of January, 2021 and is 73.68 $/bbl in the month of July, 2021 (till 21st July). Thus, there has been a substantial increase in the price of crude in the last six months,” reasoned the Minister in written reply to a separate question.(UNI)
