Opposition demand reduction in VAT on petroleum products in Uttarakhand

Dehradun, Sept 12 (PTI) Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress president Pritam Singh asked Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Wednesday to reduce the VAT rates imposed by the state on petroleum products to ease the burden of price rise.

The rise in fuel prices has sent prices of many essential commodities, especially food items, soaring and has compounded the misery of the common people, Singh said in a letter to the CM Wednesday.

Citing examples of Punjab and Rajasthan, where the VAT imposed by the state government on petroleum products have been reduced, Singh said the same needed to be done in Uttarakhand to ease the burden of the price rise.

He said it was the moral responsibility of the state government to bring relief to the people of Uttarakhand which has an uneven topography with less availability of agricultural land to farmers who also suffer the effects of natural disasters annually.