GUWAHATI: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the state government was ready to cut its share of VAT on petrol and diesel if their prices continue to remain at current levels for more than a month.
While being optimistic that the Centre would come up with some relief for the people, Sarma batted for use of ethanol blended fuel to reduce the use of the conventional fuels as the state awaits an investment of Rs 1500- 2000 crore from private entities to set up seven ethanol plants.
After the new ethanol policy was adopted, the state government has got 14 proposals to set up rice-bran based ethanol plants for blending them with fuel. "Out of that, the Government of India and Assam Government have jointly approved seven, which when completed will see an investment of around Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore. We will have an MoU signing ceremony soon. These are the biggest investments we got immediately after our (NDA) government came to power," he said.
"If we need to reduce taxes further to give relief to the people of Assam, we will do that. But I do not want to do it on the basis of one month's result. If the high rates persist for a long time, then we will want to give relief. We do not want extra money," he said. On Friday, the prices of petrol and diesel in Guwahati were Rs 104.65 and Rs 97.24 respectively.
