New Delhi: Now, the Centre has blamed Opposition-ruled states for the rise in prices of petrol and diesel. Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri accused such states of “making a killing” and asked them to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel by 50 per cent.
The minister said that the Centre had cut taxes on fuel last November, which was followed by VAT reduction by several BJP-ruled states.
Puri said the government wasn’t dictating prices to oil marketing companies, which were free to decide prices on their own. “Oil marketing companies (OMCs) are also responsible citizen entities. Now if you’re making money, I’m just hazarding a guess, on petrochemicals and if you think that there is some under-recovery on another, you might decide to postpone that under-recovery for a while,” Puri said while denying that oil companies take pricing decisions under government pressure.
