Key Points:
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the Centre and state governments will have to together work out a mechanism to bring retail rates to affordable levels.
- “I just cannot be one Union Minister in the Union government to say, right we will bring it down by this much. Will that guarantee that space is not going to be occupied by the states because everyone now needs money, revenue. At the same time there was a sense of relief in the Budget with one additional price being in demand from – the tax payments. It is a ‘Maha Bayankar Dharma Sankatam,” she said.
- The fuel prices continued to rise for the 12th consecutive day on Saturday all across the country.
Fuel prices have broken their own record limits in the country and amidst all the chaos about the same, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the Centre and state governments will have to together work out a mechanism to bring retail rates to affordable levels.
56 per cent of the record high diesel are the taxes. The Finance Minister said it is a matter for which both the Centre and state governments need to work together and see whether there is a way to fix the issue. Sitharaman further added that the oil production countries have predicted that production is likely to come down, it will put pressure on petrol prices further.
“If all this is the reality, it is the oil marketing companies who have to decide whether they have to cut the prices down or not because (technically), the oil prices have been freed, and the government has no control over it. It is the marketing companies that import the crude; refine it, distribute it and put the cost of logistics everything else,” she said.
“I just cannot be one Union Minister in the Union government to say, right we will bring it down by this much. Will that guarantee that space is not going to be occupied by the states because everyone now needs money, revenue. At the same time there was a sense of relief in the Budget with one additional price being in demand from – the tax payments. It is a ‘Maha Bayankar Dharma Sankatam,” she said.
The fuel prices continued to rise for the 12th consecutive day on Saturday all across the country. The petrol price in Mumbai has neared Rs. 100. As of 20th February, Rs. 97/liter was the petrol price in the city and diesel was prices Rs. 88.06 per litre. In Delhi, petrol price was increased by 39 paise per litre, while diesel costs 37 paise a litre.
