Centre should also reduce tax on fuel to provide relief to people: Ajit Pawar

Mumbai, Apr 7 (PTI) Amid a demand that states need to reduce tax considering the rise in petrol, diesel prices, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said the Centre, too, should bring down tax to provide a relief to people.

Speaking to media persons here, Pawar noted that the Centre's tax is higher than that of states.

Pawar, who is the state Finance Minister, made the comment while replying to a question whether the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was thinking about reducing tax on fuel in line with some other states which have done so.

"We have to run the state. We don't want to impose a new tax...Rather, we have reduced Rs 1,000 crore tax on gas (CNG and PNG). We have in a way helped women, light motor vehicles and auto rickshaw drivers," he said.

"Now, some people are saying that the state should also reduce tax on petrol and diesel. The Centre, too, should reduce the tax then. Its tax is more than what is imposed by us," he added.

Pawar said that the petrol and diesel prices are increasing “daily” and noted various political parties, including the NCP, are staging protests on the issue.

AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jaleel had on Wednesday asked why NCP chief Sharad Pawar did not show "urgency" to discuss with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the issue of his party minister Nawab Malik's arrest while immediately raising the issue of central agencies' action against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut.

Jaleel had made the remark after the NCP president met Modi in Delhi and raised the issues of the ED attaching properties linked to Raut and 12 MLCs to be nominated from the Maharashtra Governor's quota.

Asked about Jaleel's comment, the deputy chief minister, without naming the AIMIM leader, termed the allegation as “wrong”.

The minister also alleged that “some people were deliberately creating confusion by distorting” the news about the meeting.

"Pawar saheb himself spoke about the meeting with the prime minister in a press conference held yesterday. It is my guess that, looking at Pawar saheb's style of working, he may have spoken to the prime minister on major issues," he added.

He further said that he had spoken to the NCP president over phone after he learnt about the meeting on Wednesday.

"Pawar saheb said he spoke to Modi on all the important issues. He told this to me and (state Home Minister) Dilip Walse Patil," he added.

To a question about the Bombay High Court asking the Centre and Maharashtra government to resolve their differences outside of the court about the construction of the Mumbai metro car shed, Pawar said the MVA regime was ready to hold talks on the issue with the concerned authorities.

“We also don't want any dispute. The Parliament session is going on. We will ask Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members (from the state) to raise the issue…a headway can be found through discussion. We are ready to hold discussions,” the minister said. Asked about reports of Shiv Sena and Congress MLAs complaining about not getting adequate funds, the senior NCP leader said legislators of his party too have the same grievance.

“The sole reason (behind this) is there was a limitation to the funds for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to ensure that the state's development was not retarded with whatever resources were available,” Pawar said.

Pawar said the state government had increased MLA funds and did not slash development funds.

“You will be surprised that in the last fiscal, we gave the public works department Rs 21,000 crore for road and building construction for the first time in the state's history,” he said.

Meanwhile, Marathi actress Asawari Joshi joined the NCP in the presence of the deputy chief minister here on Thursday. PTI ENM NP ARU ARU