Delhi govt increases VAT on petrol & diesel; prices hiked by ₹1.67 & ₹7.10 respectively

Delhi government on Tuesday has increased value-added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel resulting in rise in price of two fuels. While petrol price has increased by ₹1.67 per litre, price of diesel has increased by ₹7.10 a litre. Before hike, petrol prices in Delhi was ₹69.59 per litre while diesel rates were ₹62.29. Basically, Arvind Kejriwal led government has increased VAT on petrol to 30% from 27% while VAT on diesel has been almost doubled to 30% from 16.75%.

Or state governments have also increased VAT on fuels claiming massive revenue losses during  coronavirus lockdown in country which has w been extended to May 17. While Haryana government recently hiked tax by ₹1 per litre on petrol and ₹1.1 per litre on diesel, Tamil Nadu government hiked VAT by ₹3.25 per litre for petrol and that of diesel by ₹2.50 per litre.

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'Special Corona Fee'

As lockdown 3.0 began on Monday with reopening of liquor shops, rms of social distancing went for a toss. Taking action to limit crowd outside liquor shops, Chief Minister Arvind-Kejriwal led Delhi Government in a late-night tification imposed "Special Corona Fees" of 70% tax on Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of liquor. Finance Department of Delhi government said, "70 per cent of maximum retail price (will be levied) on all categories of liquor sold through retail licensees for consumption."

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India's lockdown extended

On Friday, Ministry of Home Affairs issued a tification extending nationwide lockdown by 2 weeks from May 4. tification states considerable relaxations in districts falling in green and orange zones allowed by MHA, will continue to remain in place. Union Health Ministry has divided districts across nation as red (classified based on total active cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance) - 130 districts, orange (those neir in green or red zones) - 284 districts and green zones (Zero cases for past 21 days) - 319 districts. Restrictions too have been lifted accordingly. Currently, India has 46433 cases with 1568 deaths, 12727 cured/discharged/migrated.

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