Punjab slashes petrol price by Rs 10, diesel by Rs 5

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi (File image)

In poll-bound Punjab, the Congress-led government has decided to cut petrol prices by Rs 10 per litre and diesel by Rs 5. The new rates will come into effect from midnight, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi announced on November 7.

The rate cut, which will be brought into effect through a reduction in value added tax (VAT) levied on fuel, comes three days after the Centre reduced excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and diesel by Rs 10.

Channi, while addressing the press today, said the Punjab government has decided to further slash the rates to relieve the people. Referring to the reduction in petrol price, the chief minister said “this has not happened in the past 70 years”, NDTV reported.

“We have decided to decrease petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 per litre and Rs 5 per litre, respectively, to be effective from midnight today,” news agency ANI quoted Channi as saying.

The decision comes a day after the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded the Channi government to take cue from the Centre’s move to cut excise duty and reduce VAT levied on fuel. “Why the Punjab government is not giving relief to people by reducing VAT on fuel?” state BJP chief Ashwani Sharma questioned.

The central government had urged the state on November 3 to “commensurately reduce VAT on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers”.

“The states should add to this celebration by reducing VAT on fuel to give further relief to consumers,” Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had tweeted on the eve of Diwali, when the Centre announced the excise duty cut.

With the successive announcements made by the Centre and the Punjab government, the petrol and diesel prices in the state will be down by around Rs 15 per litre.