State govt increases petrol, diesel tax rates
Bengaluru, Jan 4: The Congress-JDS government in Karnataka Friday increased tax rates on petrol and diesel to 32 per cent and 21 per cent respectively, citing adverse impact on the state revenue collection due to continuous fall in the prices of crude oil in international market.
Prior to the revision, the tax rates on petrol and diesel were 28.75 per cent and 17.73 per cent, respectively.
The revised rates for petrol and diesel are Rs 70.84 per litre and Rs 64.66 per litre, respectively.
The revision has been made due to continuous fall in the prices of crude oil in international market from past two-and-a-half months, which has resulted in base price of both fuels plummeting substantially, causing adverse impact onstate's revenue collection, the chief minister's office said in a statement.
Despite the revision, the retail price of petrol and diesel in Karnataka are lower compared to neighbouring states, considering the base price of the fuels as on January 1, 2019,it claimed.
It also said there was additional collection of Rs 1.14 and Rs 1.12 per litre on petrol and diesel, respectively, because of the government increasing the tax rate, from 30 per cent to 32 per cent and from 19 per cent to 21 per cent, respectively, from July 15, 2018.
However, considering the substantial increase in the base price of petrol and diesel, the government had reduced the incidence of tax on these fuels by Rs 2 per litre from September 17 last year to give relief to the consumers.
"Accordingly, the tax rate on petrol and diesel came down from 32 per cent to 28.75 per cent and from 21 per cent to 17.73 per cent, respectively."
With effect from October 5, 2018, the Union government also reduced the central excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.5 per litre and also directed Oil Marketing Companies to cut petrol and diesel prices by Rs 1 per litre out of their own margin, the statement added.
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Notices issued to Himachal conductor, driver for anti-Rahul Gandhi audio clip playing in govt bus
Shimla, Nov 30: After finding itself in soup over a CID enquiry on "missing samosas", the Himachal Pradesh government is again in a tight spot for issuing notices to a state roadways conductor and driver after an audio clip with defamatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was allegedly played in their bus.
A man in his complaint to the Chief Minister's Office said defamatory words were used against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders in an audio clip which was played in the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus plying between Shimla and Sanjauli on November 5.
In a letter to the conductor and driver of the bus on November 25, the HRTC sought explanation from them. The letter went viral on the internet.
Talking to reporters on Friday, HRTC Managing Director Rohan Chand Thakur said a routine complaint was received from a customer after which a fact finding enquiry was initiated. The enquiry was closed as the allegations were found baseless.
However, the wording of the explanation sought could have been better and the officers have been verbally conveyed to improve in the coming times, he added.
The defamatory words were allegedly used in a debate being played in the audio clip.
Reacting sharply to the letter, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, said the government should appoint marshals to stop audios being played in buses.
"Such decisions of the government are damaging the reputation of the state government as well as the state," he added.
Earlier, the state CID department had ordered an internal enquiry on the samosas which were brought for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during a function and by mistake were served to the his security staff. A senior police official had termed the faux pas as an anti-CID and ant-Government act.
