Shillong, Nov 5: With public pressure mounting on the state government to do its bit to reduce the fuel prices as other states have done to ease the burden on people, the Conrad Sangma led Meghalaya government on Friday decided to reduce VAT on petrol to 13.5% per litre and 5% per litre on diesel. The lowered tax rates make petrol cheaper by almost Rs 10 and diesel by almost Rs. 7 in the state.
Cabinet has decided to provide a relief on the fuel prices in the state by reducing the VAT on petrol from 20% to 13.5% & diesel from 12% to 5% per litre, providing relief of ₹10 to our consumers.@nsitharaman pic.twitter.com/tyHnn80sJQ
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) November 5, 2021
The earlier VAT was 20% on petrol and 12% on diesel per litre.
The reduced tax rates will be effective across the state from Friday night.
Prior to the excise cut of Rs 5 on petrol and Rs. 10 on diesel by the Centre on November 4, petrol was retailing at Rs. 104.91 per litre and diesel at Rs. 97.44 per litre in Shillong. Post the excise cut, the price of petrol came down to Rs. 99.91 per litre and diesel to Rs. 87.44 per litre.
With the relief provided by Meghalaya government on Friday, the price of petrol is now lowered to Rs. 92.38 in Byrnihat and Rs. 93.91 in Shillong and diesel price has come down to Rs. 79.41 in Byrnihat and Rs. 80.57 in Shillong.
This translates to reduction of Rs. 11 per litre on petrol price and Rs. 16.87 per litre on diesel in two days in Meghalaya.
“Meghalaya is once again a state that charges lowest tax on petrol and diesel,” Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong told reporters post the cabinet meeting on the fuel prices.
Also, he informed that the state will incur a revenue loss of about Rs 100 crore for five months from November 2021 to March 2022.
It may be mentioned that Meghalaya is the last state in Northeast India to announce a reduction in prices of petrol and diesel after a reduction in excise duty was announced by the Central government.
