In a bid to provide relief to the people of Maharashtra from skyrocketing fuel prices, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday announced that the state government will reduce value added tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel.

A decision to reduce VAT on fuel will be taken in the state Cabinet, Shinde informed the Legislative House, while replying to a debate after he won the floor test.

Addressing a press conference today after attending today’s Assembly session, Shinde said, “We will cut VAT on petroleum to provide relief to the people of Maharashtra. When the Central government comes with any state government, the speed of development increases multifold in that state. We will surely get benefit from Devendra Fadnavis’s experience.”

Presently in Mumbai, the rate of petrol is Rs 111.35 per litre and diesel is being sold at Rs 97.28 per litre.

In April this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the Centre and states should work in tandem, reiterating the theme of cooperative federalism, calling on states that haven’t followed the reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel by the Centre in November with a decrease in Value Added Tax (VAT) to do so. He emphasised that high taxes on petrol and diesel in such states – almost all opposition-led – are an injustice to the people.

The Maharashtra government had also cut the state-imposed tax on petrol and diesel by Rs 2.08 per litre and Rs 1.44 per litre at the end of May. The move had come after the central government on May 21 announced a tax reduction on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre. Union Finance Minister had also urged the states to follow the suit by cutting state levies on fuels.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday won the crucial floor test in the state Assembly on the last day of the two-day special session of the House. In the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it. Three legislators abstained from voting, while 21 legislators, including Congress’s Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, were absent.

Shinde hailed the victory of his faction in the floor test of the Maharashtra Assembly. Speaking in the Assembly today, Shinde said, “I thank Devendra Fadnavis ji for giving me a chance to work as a minister in the previous government… I could work on Samruddhi Mahamarg project. He was to give the Deputy CM post to Shiv Sena also in 2019.”

“We are Shivsainiks and we will always be Shivsainiks of Balasaheb and Anand Dighe. I want to remind you who was there and who got Balasaheb’s voting banned for six years,” the Maharashtra Chief Minister said in the Assembly.
“Initially, I was supposed to be made the Chief Minister in the MVA government… But later Ajit Dada (Ajit Pawar) or someone said that I should not be made the Chief Minister. I had no problem and I told Uddhav ji to go ahead, and that I was with him. I never eyed that post,” Shinde said.