Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, at the time of announcing a reduction in excise duty, had urged states to reduce VAT. Her other cabinet colleagues including Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri made similar pleas.
Instead of declaring "The Kashmir Files" tax-free, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should have emulated his predecessor late Manohar Parrikar, and lowered the VAT on fuel prices, Congress MLA Yuri Alemao said on Saturday.
Hundreds of petrol pumps in Bikaner division of Rajasthan have been shut indefinitely to protest against the rise in prices of petrol and diesel due to higher taxes in the desert state which has left the people struggling to get their vehicles tanks filled.
Petrol, diesel price in India: Rising costs have hit the poor hard
Rizwanudeen, a 37-year old worker who delivers food in Chennai, struggles to pay his rent and loan instalments at the end of every month as he has been hit by the double whammy of higher fuel prices and fewer food orders.
Millions of weekly wage earners like Rizwanudeen who make their living ferrying goods or people throughout India have been hit hard by record high fuel prices which are among the highest in Asia, having risen by a third in the 15 months since the coronavirus first struck the country.