HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who on Sunday said that the State government had never hiked the VAT on petrol and diesel in the last seven years, corrected his statement on Monday. Speaking to reporters at Pragathi Bhavan, Rao said that the government had, in fact, made a price adjustment in 2015.
It may be recalled that in January 2015, there was a cess of Rs 2 on every litre of petrol and diesel. The Telangana government had hiked the VAT at the time.The government had issued a GO in January 2015 increasing the VAT, which had triggered a public outrage. Later, it withdrew the GO and said that it was a mistake made by an operator and an outsourcing employee. The government then sacked the two employees.
The State government had issued another GO in January, stating that the VAT on petrol would be 31 per cent plus Rs 2 per litre and on diesel 22.25 per cent plus Rs 2 per litre. Afterwards, in December 2015, the government revised the VAT on petrol from 31 per cent to 35.2 per cent and the same on diesel from 22.25 per cent to 27 per cent. These revised rates absorbed the Rs 2 cess and there was no immediate hike in price for consumers due to the hike in VAT. The price adjustment was done due to the continuous fall in petrol and diesel prices in 2014 and 2015.
However, the Rs 2 cess was included in the VAT percentage. The public has been feeling the pinch as fuel prices have been seeing an upward trend in recent years. The Rs 2 cess on Rs 50 petrol would normally be just Rs 2. But as Rs 2 was adjusted in the VAT, the cess would become Rs 4.20 when the petrol price is Rs 100.
Single-pick cotton to be introduced soon
The Chief Minister, while advising farmers to raise cotton instead of paddy, said that the government would soon introduce single-pick cotton seeds in the State. “Farmers are spending a lot of money on labour due to multiple-pick cotton seeds. Single-pick cotton was raised in 500 acres on an experimental basis in the State. By the next crop season, the government will supply single-pick cotton seed to farmers,” Rao said. He further said that electric cars are the future and that petrol vehicles would be a thing of the past soon. He said that he had recently purchased an MG Electric Car