by Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati: Keeping in mind the upcoming elections in Assam, the state government has reduced the price of petrol and diesel from tonight. Now, petrol-diesel has now become 5 rupees cheaper. Whereas, the tax on liquor has also been reduced by 25 per cent. The new rates will come into effect from tonight. The state Government of Assam has informed about this on Friday. The decision to make petrol-diesel and liquor cheaper has come about a month before the assembly elections in Assam. Especially this is a time. When fuel prices are rising rapidly across the country. Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswas announced this in the assembly.

The Assam government announced on Friday the removal of additional cess on petrol, diesel and liquor during the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic in the state. Finance Minister Dr. Himanta Vishwa Sharma announced this while presenting vote on account in the state assembly and said, “Now the epidemic has come down to a great extent, the number of patients has also decreased and the requirement of Covid-19 screening centres has gone down. The state cabinet has decided to withdraw the additional cess and taxes levied during the Kok period. However, there was no change about a month ago. Crude oil prices have risen in the global market, which has also impacted the domestic market. Kovid-19 vaccination is increasing fuel consumption in different parts of the world.

He said that additional cess on petrol and diesel has been withdrawn and it will be cheaper by five rupees per litre from midnight tonight. Similarly, on an average, an additional cess of about 25 per 25 per hour levied on various types of liquor has also been withdrawn during the last year. Dr. Sharma said that the Kovid-19 epidemic presented unprecedented challenges to the state with pressure on scarce resources.

Let us mention here that the Assam Assembly is to be elected during March-April. BJP-led chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to contest his chair. At the same time, apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, several BJP leaders are also visiting the state. In Assam, a vote-on account budget has been presented today in which the government has announced an expenditure of about Rs 60,784.03 crore. This will be for the first 6 months of the next financial year.