Nagaland: Demand to revoke cess on fuel amid corona pandemic

The Dimapur Naga Students Union (DNSU) and the Mokokchung Town Lanur Telongjem (MTLT) on Thursday reiterated their demand to revoke the Nagaland government’s decision to levy Covid-19 cess on fuel.

The state cabinet imposed Covid-19 cess on diesel by Rs 5 per litre and petrol and motor spirit by Rs 6 per litre from midnight of April 28.

In a release, the DNSU said the cess of Rs 5 on diesel and Rs 6 on petrol imposed to meet the financial exigencies due to Covid pandemic is excessive.  

The union urged the government for immediate reconsideration of the Covid-19 cess on fuel. It also asked the government to be transparent with the fund raised from the cess on fuel and declare the overall amount of money generated till date in the public domain.

In a memorandum to chief minister Neiphiu Rio on Thursday, the MTLT said the decision to impose Covid cess on fuel still remained to be anti-people and anti-poor.

It said the cabinet decision on the Covid-19 cess on petroleum products was also censured by almost all the stakeholders in the society, including the business community, political parties, NGOs, and petroleum traders but this fell on deaf ears.

The MTLT said the government’s assertion that the Covid-19 cess on petroleum products would not lead to any price rise in the market has been rendered false when looked at the ground realities.

It pointed out that the prices of essential commodities have raised exponentially after the Covid-19 cess was implemented.

According to the organisation, the contention of the state government that the Covid-19 cess is a means to “tax the rich to help the poor” is illogical, if not blatantly misleading the general masses.

Also read: Nagaland reports two more COVID-19 cases, count climbs to 130

This tax on petroleum products is causing unmatched inflation especially in the rural areas as they have to hire trucks to transport the essential commodities, it added.

The MTLT asked the government to review the cabinet decision at the earliest possible.

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