Srinagar, Apr 25: Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Wednesday urged Jammu and Kashmir government to take up escalation in the petrol and diesel prices with the Union government.
In a statement issued here, KCCI said State government should take up the matter to reduce petrol and diesel prices with the Union government.
“…Kashmir being in a critical condition, it was time to revisit the state levies on petrol and diesel, and also urgently take up the reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel with the Union government,” the statement quoted KCCI president Javed Ahmad Tenga as saying.
He said that prices of petrol and diesel in India were the highest amongst all the South Asian countries, and this was only due to taxes and levies accounting for half of the rate.
The statement said even after collecting a “whopping” Rs 2.42 lakh crores as excise duty, state government has failed to provide any relief to the common masses.
“The government after imposing the highest tax rates on petroleum products quietly withdrew and introduced the daily price revision system which gives autonomy to oil PSUs to revise rates daily since June 2017. The PSUs have been steadily increasing the rates by 10 paisa to 30 paisa which more or less goes unnoticed. The end result is the highest petrol and diesel prices since years,” said KCCI.
