Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna on Tuesday said that petrol and diesel were cheaper in UP as compared to many other states like Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Punjab and Delhi.
He said despite the huge setback to state exchequer due to COVID-19 pandemic, the UP government had not hiked the VAT on petroleum products as done by other states ruled by non-Bharatiya Janata Party political parties.
Khanna said the VAT on diesel in UP was only 17.48 per cent or Rs 9.41 per litre and the cost of diesel per litre in Lucknow was Rs 81.24 while in Jaipur it was Rs 89.96 per litre, Rs 90.12 in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 88.77 in Odisha, Rs 86.40 in Chennai, Rs 88.58 in Maharashtra, Rs 89.75 in Bhopal, Rs 86.71 in Patna, Rs 86.10 in Ranchi, Rs 83.19 in Pune and Rs 82.11 in Dehradun.
The finance minister said that the VAT on petrol in UP is 26.80 per cent or Rs 16.74 per litre. He said the cost of petrol in Lucknow was Rs 89.30 per litre while the price of petrol was Rs 97.70 in Jaipur, Rs 96.59 in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 91.88 in Odisha, Rs 93.10 in Chennai, Rs 97 in Maharashtra, Rs 99.19 in Bengaluru, Rs 94.77 in Hyderabad, Rs 93.46 in Patna, Rs 91.34 in Kolkata, Rs 92.12 in Punjab and Rs 91.21 in Delhi.
Khanna said despite the pandemic, the state government was able to meet all its non-committed expenditures like salary, pension and all other expenditures on account of relief to the people affected by the pandemic.
He said against the target of total revenue collection of Rs 1.16 lakh crore during the current fiscal 2020-21, the shortfall was as high as 33 per cent and the collection by the end of February this year was Rs 1,01,910 crore.
He said during 2020-21, the GST collection was Rs 37,520 crore against the target of Rs 58,609 crore and the collection of VAT was Rs 18,674 crore against the target of Rs 24,488 crore or 76.3 per cent.
He said the collection of excise duty was Rs 25,703 crore against the target of Rs 33,700 crore or 76.3 per cent and collection of stamp duty was Rs 19,293 crore against the target of Rs 21,140 crore.
He said revenue collection from motor and vehicle tax was Rs 5,165 crore against the target of 5,165 crore and collection from land revenue was Rs 270 crore against the target of Rs 770 crore.