Farmers Movement Archive

Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal asks Punjab CM to reduce VAT on fuel

Union food processing industry minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday appealed the Punjab government to reduce value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel.The minister said Punjab’s taxation of petroleum products was the highest in the country. She urged the Congress government to reduce the VAT on fuel and provide relief to the common man.Harsimrat said the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) wanted fuel prices reduced and party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had publicly cleared his stance on the issue.She said chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had politicised the three farm central ordinances.“The central ordinances are similar to the act passed by the Congress-led Punjab government in 2017. Minimum support price (MSP) on key crops was an outcome of SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal’s efforts and the party will be the first oppose any attempt made to dilute the provision,” she said.Criticising farmers’ organisations, she said, “The BKU leaders did not raise issues such as kurki or attachment of a farmer’s land in the event of non-payment of loan and non-deliverance of food grain supply during the pandemic with the CM”.She also said, “The SAD government opposes the state government’s decision to close down a now defunct thermal plant in Bathinda that was named after the first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev.”

Hindustan Times

02-07-2020

Chandigarh