Meghalaya cabinet on August 24 approved the new rates of tax on petrol and diesel, which would make fuel prices dearer in the state.
Informing this after the meeting, minister James Sangma said: “Today, the present rate of tax for petrol is 13.5% or Rs 11 per litre whichever is higher. So, this has been revised to 13.5% or Rs 12.50 per litre whichever is higher.”
“For diesel, the present rate of tax is 5% or Rs 4 per litre whichever is higher. This has been revised to 5% or Rs 5.50 per litre whichever is higher,” he added.
Informing that the rate of retail sale price (RSP) of petrol in Byrnihat as on August 24 is Rs 95.10, the minister said there will be a difference of Rs 1.92 between Assam and Meghalaya.
“For petrol, the new RSP is now going to be Rs 95.10 in Byrnihat and Rs 96.83 in Shillong and for diesel it is going to be Rs 83.50 in Byrnihat and Rs 84.72 in Shillong and the difference basically would be in Byrnihat Rs 1.44 for diesel and Rs 0.22 in Shillong,” he said.
Despite the hike in the tax structure and the consequent increase in the prices of petrol and diesel, James Sangma, however, said the prices of petrol and diesel, are the cheapest in the entire country.
He said the decision was also taken after the Assam government had recently revised its rates of tax on petrol and diesel.
As is the practice which has been followed in the state of Meghalaya for a very long time whenever the rates of Assam are changed, to commensurate to that, the government of Meghalaya also revises its rates of petrol and diesel to take advantage of the price differential, the minister stated.
