Mamata Banerjee turns blind eye to excise duty cut; calls Centre 'people-killing govt'

A day after the Centre announced the reduction of Central excise duty on items like fuel, and gas among others, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called it a 'people killing government' on Sunday. Addressing a public gathering, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said that the government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been pickpocketing the commenters of the country, and to prove her point, she even put forth a few examples. 

"Once the price of electricity rises, the price of everything rises. And the price of electricity has risen...The price of petrol, diesel has risen, gas has risen...The price of medicines...People eat medicine for sugar (diabetes)...They eat medicine for kidney problems...The medicines that are the most important- 800 of such medicines' price has risen. They had raised it a year back, and again, just recently," she said. 

"If there is one incident of cut money, you can see it with bare eyes. But the government, loots over 17,00,000 crore, through cut money from gas, diesel, and petrol prices," said Banerjee, urging the people to question the BJP.

Centre reduces excise duty on petrol and diesel

On Saturday, the Finance Minister announced the reduction of Central excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre. This will reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and diesel by Rs 7 per litre. It will have a revenue implication of around Rs1 lakh crore/year for the government. "I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where the reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man," the BJP leader wrote. 

Also, a subsidy of Rs 200 per gas cylinder (up to 12 cylinders) to over 9 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was announced to help the people of the country. Besides, an announcement was made for a reduction on the customs duty on raw materials & intermediaries for plastic products, iron & steel. Also, an announcement was made for the reduction of the cost of cement, by increasing its availability with the use of better logistics.