Raipur: Bhartiya Janata Party
Chhattisgarh will stage a state-wide chakka jam on Saturday to mark protest
against state government for not reducing VAT on diesel and petrol. The chakka
jam will be staged in all the districts of Chhattisgarh between 11 am and 1 pm,
said BJP state president Vishnudeo Sai while attacking the state government on
the VAT issue.
When asked about the significance of the
chakka jam when Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s has already assured of
considering a proposal of the Department of Commerce on the reduction of VAT on
fuel price in the Cabinet meeting on November 22, Sai said that the BJP will
still stage chakka jam. “We will demand from the state government to reduce VAT
on diesel by Rs 10 per litre and Rs 5 per litre on petrol price like Central
government. People of the state have suffered a lot due to unnecessary delay in
the reduction of VAT on fuel price and the state government will have to reply
to the people of the state,” said Sai.
In the two and a half years of tenure,
the Congress has set a record of dual politics. The Congress government has
always put the blame on BJP for everything for which it is solely responsible. No
one has ever seen such an incompetent government which has been making false
claims till date, said Sai.
“We all know that a large share of the
tax on petrol and diesel goes directly to the states. The state is taking 25
percent directly in VAT and then 1/2 rupee as Cess. The state government in
Chhattisgarh doesn’t even disclose what it did with the cess money. Apart from
this, a large part of the money that the states get in various centrally
sponsored schemes, comes from excise,” Sai said.
Thousands of crores of rupees of oil bonds
was done during the tenure of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and its
interest is being given by the NDA, Sai said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided
to buy 61 lakh metric tonnes of rice i.e. about one crore metric tonnes of
paddy from the farmers of Chhattisgarh, he said.
The state gets about three-fourth of the
total tax on petrol and diesel in the form of VAT and state share on excise.
Still, not one work has been completed by the Congress government in
Chhattisgarh. Where is all this money going, questioned Sai. Has the public
voted for the Congress to shed money like water in the UP-Assam-Bengal-Bihar
elections, he said.
Hike in power tax by 8 per cent has put
about Rs 1200 crore additional burden on the public, he said. The price of cement
has doubled due to illegal recovery in connivance with Congress. The price of
cement has gone up to Rs 330 per bag. In collusion with sand mafia, sand worth
5000 is being sold for 15000, Sai alleged.
Former minister Rajesh Munat on the
occasion said that the state government was compelled to bring proposal
regarding the reduction in VAT after inter-state buses and local buses plying
on bordering districts of Chhattisgarh refilled fuel from the neighbouring
states, causing huge loss to the state government. The state government could
not even complete the Expressway in three years and take decision on Skywalk,
Munat said.
