Not right to increase fuel prices first and then reduce nominally: Maharashtra CM attacks Centre

Reacting to the Centre's decision to reduce excise duty on fuel on Saturday, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray said it was not right to increase fuel prices exorbitantly first and then decrease them nominally.

Reacting to the fuel price reduction announced by the central government on Saturday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray demanded that excise duty be further reduced by the Cente.

“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.