Meghalaya Govt Hikes Petrol & Diesel Prices

Shillong: Meghalaya taxation minister James PK Sangma on Thursday said that the state government has hiked petrol and diesel prices.

The tax on petrol which was earlier 13.5 per cent or Rs 11 a litre has been revised to 13.5 per cent or Rs 12.50 a litre whichever is higher.

On the other hand, for diesel, the state government has revised it to 5 per cent or Rs 5.50 a litre, whichever is higher, from 5 per cent or Rs 4 a litre.

"As you may be aware that the state of Assam has hiked the rates of petrol and diesel. To commensurate this, the state government here also revises its rate of petrol and diesel to take advantage of the price difference," PTI quoted Sangma as saying after the cabinet approved the changes.

As per the new revised rate, the rate of petrol on Byrnihat would now be Rs 95.1 litre and in Shillong, it would be Rs 96.83. Diesel would cost Rs 83.5 per litre in Byrnihat while the same would cost Rs 83.72 in Shillong.

In May this year, amidst rising energy prices and inflation, the Central excise duty on petrol was reduced by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre, reducing the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and diesel by Rs 7 per litre.

"Today, the world is passing through difficult times. Even as the world is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict has brought in supply chain problems and shortages of various goods. This is resulting in inflation & economic distress in a lot of countries," Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in a series of tweets.

Notably, this duty cut will have a revenue implication of around Rs 1 lakh crore per year for the Government.

Sitharaman further said that despite the challenging international situation, the Government has ensured that there are no shortages or scarcity of essential goods, adding, ''Even a few developed countries couldn't escape some shortages or disruptions.''

''The Government is committed to ensuring that prices of essential items are kept under control,'' she added.

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