Congress has flayed yet another hike made by the Central Government in the prices of petrol and diesel and imposition of Swachchh Bharat cess and demanded their immediate roll back.
While the price of petrol has been increased by 36 paise per litre that of diesel has been raised by 87 paise per litre and the cess would be imposed on all the taxable services, said Kiran Choudhry, leader of Haryana Congress legislature Party (ClP) on Monday.
In a statement issued here, the former Excise and Taxation Minister said the hike would put unbearable burden on the common man who is already reeling under the soaring prices of essential commodities, especially pulses and oil. It will also hit the farmers hard due to the cost of transportation of goods going up as a result of hike in the price of diesel, she added.
Coming along with the inflation data which shows that consumer price index grew 5 per cent in October as compared to 4.41 per cent in September and imposition of 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat Cess, it will have a cascading effect on the prices of essential goods and services, she said.
With the imposition of the cess, all kinds of services, which are taxed, will be costlier. Service tax rate will go up from 14 per cent to 14.5 per cent leading all taxable services expensive.
Swachh Bharat programme is based on the extent of open defecation and solid waste management practices, but the BJP Government has failed to tackle this issue efficiently, Choudhry added.
She said the BJP Government should focus on cutting down its own expenditure instead of imposing 0.5 per cent cess and increasing petrol and diesel prices.
Instead of bringing down the prices to provide relief to the consumer, the BJP Government keeps burdening the common man. Both the decisions are anti-people and should be rolled back immediately, she demanded.