State government cuts price of petrol, diesel by Rs. 2

Bengaluru: The State government, on Monday, September 17, lowered the price of petrol and diesel by Rs. 2. Three other states, namely Rajasthan, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, have already cut state taxes on fuel. The CMO sources have said that on Sunday, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had a meeting arranged with the Finance department to lower the fuel price by a decrease in the tax rates. CM HDK has passed an order to the Finance department to find solutions in accumulating resources and taxes, which needs to be submitted by September 17. On the same grounds, in the state budget that was announced on July 5, HDK had raised the tax percentage on petrol from 30 to 32 per cent and on diesel from 19 to 21 per cent. By this, the petrol rates were increased by Rs. 1.14 and diesel Rs. 1.12. Two days ago, CM Kumaraswamy had a meet with the Excise, Transport, Mining and Geology, and Registration and Stamps departments to inspect on the developments. Each department has exceeded the goals set by the government in terms of tax collection. The Finance department has said that the treasury of the state government is stable and there should not be any shortcomings in farmers loan waive off as well as other government initiatives. The department also said that this had become the reason for the CM to lower the taxation on the fuel price. The CM had hinted at lowering the tax rates during his visit to Delhi recently. Recently, petrol and diesel rates reached the mark of Rs. 84 and Rs. 73 respectively. The rates saw a sharp increase in spite of the 'Bharath Bandh' called by the Congress-led opposition. Source: News Karnataka