Entire burden of fuel price cut falls on Centre: Finance Minister
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi: In the wake of back-to-back attacks by Opposition parties on the Centre's decision to cut excise duty on fuel prices, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a series of tweets on Sunday shared a blueprint of the details, what she called "useful facts", and said the burden of fuel price cut had been borne completely by the Union government.
"…'am sure criticism/appraisal can benefit from having them before us," she tweeted. Sitharaman said the reduction in fuel prices was made entirely in road and infrastructure cess (RIC) and that the basic excise duty shareable with states was not touched in November or on Saturday when the latest round of cuts were announced.
The excise duty reduction of ₹ 8/litre on petrol and ₹6/litre on diesel (effective from Sunday) has entirely been made in Road & Infrastructure Cess (RIC). Even in November '21, the reduction of ₹ 5/litre in petrol and ₹ 10/litre in diesel was entirely made in RIC.
"RBI (Reserve Bank of India) data shows total developmental expenditure incurred by PM Narendra Modi during 2014-22 was ₹90.9 lakh crore. In contrast, only ₹49.2 lakh crore was spent on developmental expenditure during 2004-2014," Sitharaman said in a subsequent tweet.
"The expenditure incurred by our Govt under PM Narendra Modi includes ₹24.85 lakh crore spent so far on food, fuel and fertiliser subsidies and ₹26.3 lakh crore on capital creation. Over the 10 years of UPA, only ₹13.9 lakh crore was spent on subsidies," she wrote.
Over the 10 years of UPA, only ` 13.9 lakh crore was spent on subsidies, she tweeted.
Stop fooling people: Rahul
Earlier in the day, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Centre calling the effective drop in fuel prices a mere whitewash.
"Petrol Prices: May 1, 2020: `69.5. Mar 1, 2022: `95.4. May 1, 2022: `105.4. May 22, 2022: `96.7. Now, expect Petrol to see 'Vikas' in daily doses of `0.8 and `0.3 again. Govt must stop fooling citizens. People deserve genuine relief from record inflation. (sic)," Rahul Gandhi wrote in a tweet. In a tweet, Congress' Randeep Surjewala also urged the Finance Minister to stop fooling the public.
The change in fuel prices, bringing some relief to the common man's pockets, came into effect on Sunday. Several other states have - in line with the government - announced revised fuel prices.