Congress pulls up NDA government over oil tax revenues since 2014

Claiming that the NDA government earned oil tax revenue of Rs 11 lakh crore in the last four and a half years, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge Friday alleged that the money had not been used for development and sought to know where it had gone.

"They are getting (revenue) from crude oil, diesel and petrol...they got Rs 11 lakh crore in these four and half years. They have collected that much money. Where is that money?" he asked. Speaking to reporters here, he alleged that the NDA only helped "big corporate friends" with the money.

"Have they given it to farmers to empower them? Have they helped the irrigation projects? They did not do anything. Simply they are collecting, they are helping their big corporate friends... companies. That's why the NPA is growing day by day," Kharge said.

The NDA government is taking money from Reserve Bank of India to give to corporates, he alleged. Almost half of the fuel price is made up of taxes. The Centre levies a total of Rs 19.48 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel. Additionally, states levy value-added tax (VAT).

(With inputs from agencies.)