GUWAHATI: The Assam government has decided to withdraw from Friday midnight the additional cess on petrol and diesel that was levied during the peak of COVID-19 last year to revive the economy.
This was announced by Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who presented the vote on account Budget on the second day of the three-day state Assembly session on Friday.
The announcement comes as a relief to commuters and public transporters as fuel rates had skyrocketed of late in the state.
On Friday, the price of petrol in the city stood at a high of Rs 90.94 per litre while that of diesel at Rs 84.82 per litre.
The state government had in April last year, hiked the price of petrol from Rs 71.61 to Rs 77.46 per litre and diesel from Rs 65.07 to Rs 70.50 per litre to generate additional revenue to meet the unexpected financial burden and expenditure arising out of the coronavirus lockdown.
“At the peak of COVID-19, we had levied additional cess on petrol, diesel and liquor. Now, the pandemic has declined to a reasonable extent, the number of patients has reduced and the need for COVID-19 screening centres has also gone down. As such, the expenditure on healthcare sector has substantially come down. Hence, the state Cabinet has decided to withdraw the additional cess and taxes imposed during the COVID-19 period,” Sarma said.
“Hence, petrol and diesel will become cheaper by Rs 5 per litre with effect from midnight tonight benefitting lakhs of consumers across Assam,” he said.
The finance minister also said that the additional cess imposed on various liquor categories during last year, averaging around 25 per cent, has also been withdrawn.
In May last year, Assam had raised the excise duty on IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) by 25 per cent in a bid to generate additional revenue for the state to meet the unforeseen financial burden and expenditure arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The finance minister presented the vote-on-account for an aggregate expenditure of Rs 60,784.03 crore for the first six months of the current fiscal.
“I present the interim annual financial statements and demand for grants for the year 2021-22 where the expenditure has been detailed up to the minor head level. To fulfill the obligatory and other necessary expenditure commitments, I seek a vote on account for an aggregate expenditure of Rs 60,784.03 crore for a period of six months from April 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021, well before which, the detailed General Budget is expected to be presented,” Sarma said.
The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) rose from Rs 2, 02,080.85 crore to Rs 2, 48,796.15 crore between 2016-17 and 2019-20 at constant prices.
“I would like to emphasise that our state has seen a steady rate of growth which has been consistently higher than the national average,” he said.
The annual growth rate stood at 7.71 percent against the national annual growth rate of 6.11 percent in the same period.
“At current prices, the GSDP rose from Rs 2,54,382.36 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 3,51,317.77 crore in 2019-20 at an annual growth rate of 12.7 percent against an all India growth rate of 10.72 percent. During the same period, the per capita income of Assam rose from Rs 66,330 in 2016-17 to Rs 90,692 in 2019-20,” the finance minister said.