Feul prices to come down in Assam, assures Himanta Biswa Sarma

GUWAHATI: Close on the heels of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy taking to his Twitter handle to criticize the skyrocketing fuel prices in India, Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said fuel will come down soon in Assam.

Talking to newspersons here last evening, Sarma said: “Petrol and diesel will be cheaper very soon. We are initiating steps to withdraw the COVID-19 cess imposed on fuel.”

“Petrol Rs 93 in Ram’s India, Rs 53 in Sita’s Nepal, Rs 51 in Ravan’s Lanka”, tweeted Swamy on Tuesday. The price of petrol in Guwahati is Rs 89.27 and that of diesel in Rs 82.96.

The state government had imposed pandemic cess to the tune of Rs 5 per litre of petrol and diesel in April last year.

The price relief will, however, be shortlived. The Centre has imposed an agri cess of Rs 2.5 per litre of petrol and Rs 4 per litre of diesel in the Budget 2021-22 which will be effective from April 1.

Sarma had also said on New Year eve that liquor prices will also come down from February. The state government had imposed a 25 per cent COVID-19 cess on Indian-Made Foreign Liquor in May last year.

“The minster has been assuring for quite some time that fuel prices will be reduced soon. We common people, who are already crippled by price rise of essentials as well as unemployment, are left with the only option of listening to all those election-oriented assurances. Let’s hope the assurance materializes this time,” said Tridib Das, a city resident.