Chennai: Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Saturday urged the Centre to immediately withdraw the revised excise duty on petrol and diesel while describing the increase as “unjust” and “unacceptable.”
Flaying the BJP-led government at the Centre for hiking the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 10.77 and Rs 12.7 per litre each, respectively, since the last 13 months, she said on Saturday night that the Central government had on January 1, 2016 also reduced the prices of petrol and diesel for “namesake” but hiked excise duty.
“The government’s increase of excise duty on petrol and diesel is not just. It is not acceptable to anyone,” she strongly reacted through a statement. “Had the BJP-led NDA government not increased the excise duty on petrol and diesel since November 2014, the prices of petrol and diesel would have reduced by Rs 10-12,” she said seeking withdrawal of the revision in excise duty.
While crude prices fell to their lowest in 12 years, the benefit had not passed on to the common man and the prices of petrol and diesel in India were “still high,” she pointed out.
