Maha govt cuts VAT on petrol & diesel; decision to cost state govt Rs 6,000 crore

The Maharashtra government will reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 3 per liter, respectively, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced on Thursday.

The decision, to be implemented from Thursday midnight, would put a burden of Rs 6,000 crore on the state exchequer but will benefit the common people, he told reporters after a cabinet meeting here.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the decision was part of the Shiv Sena-BJP government's commitment to people's welfare.

The government will also ensure that the revenue loss of Rs 6,000 crore does not affect development works, Shinde said.

At present, in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Amravati, and Aurangabad petrol is 26 percent VAT plus Rs 10.12 per liter and diesel is 24 percent VAT plus Rs 3 per liter.

For the rest of Maharashtra, at present petrol is 25 percent VAT plus Rs 10.12 per liter and diesel is 21 percent VAT plus Rs 3 per liter.

The state government, meanwhile, also reversed the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime's decision to stop the direct election of village sarpanch and presidents of municipal councils/Nagar panchayats.

This is yet another decision of the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government that Shinde, who took over as CM on June 30, has reversed.

The Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena government (in power from 2014 to 2019) had allowed direct election of sarpanches and municipal council presidents, but the Sena-NCP-Congress dispensation headed by Uddhav Thackeray scrapped the decision in 2020.

The new government will also restore the pension scheme for `Loktantra Sangram Senani' or those who were jailed for protesting against the Emergency between 1975 to 1977, Fadnavis said.

In 2018, the then Fadnavis government announced a pension of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 under the scheme, but it was stopped in 2020 by the MVA government.

Fadnavis said 3,600 people will now get the pension and another 800 applications will be processed on merit.

''Not just the Jana Sangh (BJP's predecessor) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, but political activists from all sections participated in the agitation against the Emergency. My father was in jail for two years. Democracy was reinstated due to the efforts of these activists,'' Fadnavis said.

The scheme was scrapped by the MVA government due to ''pressure,'' perhaps because Congress was part of the government, the BJP leader quipped.

It was the Congress government led by then prime minister Indira Gandhi which had imposed an Emergency.

Fadnavis also said that the chief minister has granted all clearances for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.

Shinde said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him in the morning and asked him to expedite the free administration of booster COVID-19 vaccine doses for people in the age group of 18 to 59 years.

The drive should be rolled out in the next 75 days, he said.

The phase-2 of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) will be implemented in Maharashtra, Shinde informed.

The cabinet also decided to implement the 'Swachh Maharashtra Abhiyan' under which 400 more local bodies have been included and Rs 10,500 crore will be spent on water supply, sanitation, and revival of water bodies, the CM said.

The scheme to provide an incentive of Rs 50,000 to the farmers who repay their loans regularly will also apply to those in the Kolhapur area who were assisted with extensive flood damage, he said.