A day after the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal defended the increase in value added tax (VAT) on diesel as a step to mobilise funds for development, Punjab Congress on Sunday lashed out at the State Government demanding immediate reversal of the hike.
Punjab Excise and Taxation Department, on October 1, increased VAT rate on diesel, other than premium diesel, by one per cent. After the hike in VAT, the retail price of diesel jumped by 55 paise a litre to Rs 58.11 per litre.
Taking on the SAD-BJP Government, Amritsar MP Captain Amarinder Singh said that the increase in VAT on diesel would put an additional burden on farmers who were in need of relief in the wake of "scanty" rains.
“Now, after the hike, farmers’ input costs will further increase which will mean additional burden,” he said. Former Chief Minister said that diesel prices should have been reduced by the NDA Government at the Centre as crude oil prices in the international market have come down. “While the NDA is shying away from slashing the prices at the Centre, Akalis have slapped a hike in Punjab,” he pointed.
Expressing surprise as to why the Centre was not passing on the benefit to consumers in the country, the senior Congress leader said: “When you pass on the burden of hike to consumers, you must pass on the benefit of reduced prices to them as well.”
Farmers should have got relief due to poor monsoons coupled with “no electricity” which have forced them to use generators to irrigate their fields, he said, adding, “Transportation costs will increase, thus burdening the common man with rising prices”.
Flaying the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for defending the decision to hike VAT on diesel, the State Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa said that this had conclusively proved that his Government had been ditched by the NDA Government at the Centre on which he had very high hopes.
“All along, you have been misleading the people by alleging discrimination at the hands of the UPA Government but now your own Narendra Modi Government has refused to come to your rescue,” said Bajwa.
He said that more than financial crisis which this Government was facing and Badal had refused to acknowledge, it was squandering of money in programmes like Sangat Darshan which had wrecked the economy. “At least five villages should be selected in each district for sample audit of the money thus spent as these grants lacked accountability,” demanded Bajwa.
The State Congress chief pointed that the same has also raised question marks about SAD-BJP alliance and under such a situation, Harsimrat Kaur Badal had no moral right to continue as a Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.