The Punjab government has decided to impose a cess of 90 paise per litre on petrol and diesel in a meeting of the state cabinet.
When asked if any cess has been imposed on petrol and diesel, Housing and Urban Development Minister Aman Arora said, "Cess has been imposed".
He was speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting. "Because for a long time, the need was felt.. and I think Punjab today needs revenue generation," Arora noted.
When asked how much cess has been imposed, Arora said it will be 90 paise per litre on petrol and diesel.
The cabinet met here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Meanwhile, as of 3 February one litre of petrol costs ₹96.89 and one litre of diesel of ₹87.24.
Meanwhile, Kerala Petrol, diesel and liquor are to cost more and motor vehicle tax and fair price value of land to go up in Kerala as the state government acted tough to mobilise additional revenue to carry forward their social security schemes and development programmes in the budget presented here on Friday.
Despite wide expectations, the social security pension received no hike but Finance Minister K N Balagopal, while presenting the budget for the fiscal 2023-24, assured that the financial constraints would not impact the welfare schemes of the Left government.
The Health and Education sectors were allotted ₹2,828.33 crore and ₹1,773.09 crore respectively.
The FM said it is proposed to levy a Social Security Cess on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and on the sale of petrol and diesel as the commitment to continue protecting the decent lives to vulnerable sections of society require supplementing the financial resources.
"It is proposed to levy a Social Security Cess at the rate of ₹20 for each bottle of IMFL having MRP between ₹500 and ₹999 and at the rate of ₹40 per bottle of IMFL having MRP above ₹1,000," Balagopal explained.
