Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged the central government to take steps to reduce the impact of fuel price on the common man.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, he said the BJP government was trying to pass the tax burden on the common man, while the rich were being exempted from it. “In the last financial year alone, the Center had provided corporate tax relief of ₹ 1.45 lakh crore. Bank loans worth Rs 8.75 lakh crore were written off, of which the major chunk was corporate loans”, he said, adding that the amount for subsidy could have been better utilized to mitigate the impact of price rise on the common man. .
Rejecting the Centre’s contention that fuel prices would fall if it is subsumed in the GST regime, he said the price of LPG was rising despite it being in the GST regime. Mr Vijayan said the Congress should take a look at the states where they were in power before calling on the LDF government in Kerala to cut its share of the tax on fuel. “While other states increased tax on fuel during the pandemic, Kerala decided not to do so”, he said.