Ranchi: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren Wednesday announced concession of Rs 25 per litre on petrol and diesel prices for two-wheelers owned by the poor in the state from Republic Day next year.Soren made the announcement on it on the completion of two years of the JMM-led coalition government in the state.The concession will be given for 10 litres of petrol for every month, a statement by the state government said later.“To provide relief to the poor and middle class families of the state who are impacted by the increased fuel prices, the government has decided to a give relief of Rs 25 per litre on petrol to two-wheeler owners from January 26, 2022,” Soren said.The statement quoting Soren said, “A poor person, having a motorcycle in the house, is unable to drive it due to lack of money to buy petrol … An amount of Rs 25 per litre would be transferred to the bank account of poor ration card holders … This system is going to be implemented from January 26 next year. A poor family can get this amount up to 10 liters of petrol per month.”It said, “Jharkhand government is working fast to bring its action plans on the ground … Prices of petrol and diesel are sky-rocketing. This has adversely impacted the poor and middle class families”.Also read: Jharkhand Assembly Passes Anti-lynching Bill, Culprits May Be Jailed for LifeState finance minister Rameshwar Oraon told the Indian Express that the government does not want to reduce VAT on petrol for everyone and will opt for “objective subsidy benefiting the poor”.“There are 61 lakh families that have ration cards in Jharkhand. Out of that, many would have motorcycles. It could be 2 lakh, 10 lakh or 20 lakh, and that needs to be checked and corroborated…One way to give the subsidy would be with Aadhaar-based identification at petrol pumps, and provide the subsidy there itself. It is for us to make a decision by January 26, when the benefit will be rolled out,” he told the newspaper.The Union government had on November 3 cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by a record Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre to help bring down rates from their highest-ever levels. It had become effective from November 4.This was the highest-ever reduction in excise duty and rolled back a part of the Rs 13 and Rs 16 per litre increase in taxes on petrol and diesel effected between March 2020 and May 2020 to avoid passing the high rates to consumers despite the the sharp fall in international oil prices.Later many states had further slashed taxes on the two fuels to make them cheaper, including Haryana and Karnataka.(With inputs from PTI)
