The State government has ruled out slashing VAT on petrol or diesel because it had never raised the same since the formation of Telangana.
Finance Minister T. Harish Rao has said the Excise duty reduction on fuel by the Centre was “bogus” and “humbug” because Central cess of ₹ 7.40 a litre on diesel and ₹ 16.40 a litre on petrol still exists. He added the State government will appreciate if the Centre rolled back cess on diesel to ₹ 3.46 a litre which prevailed in March 2014, months before BJP came to power. On the other hand, VAT on diesel and petrol was the same since 2014 when TRS was also voted to power.
