Day after Centre's appeal, Chandigarh Administration slashes petrol, diesel prices by Rs 1.50/litre

The new prices will come into effect from Friday midnight.

New Delhi: Chandigarh Administration on Friday reduced the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre. The new prices will come into effect from the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The development comes a day after the Centre slashed the petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2.50 per litre giving an overall relief of Rs 5 per litre to the consumers.

Concerned over the spike in fuel prices, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had on Thursday announced an excise duty cut on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre adding that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) will absorb Re 1 per litre on fuel. The finance minister said that the impact of excise duty cut this year will be Rs 10,500 crore.

Following the announcement, most of the key BJP ruled states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh announced an additional cut of Rs 2.50 per litre on petrol and diesel bringing the effect reduction to Rs 5 per litre on fuel prices.

However, Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal were among the few states who did not announce any cut in the fuel prices following Centre's appeal.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had called a meeting of officers of excise and taxation and finance department on Friday to assess the implications and the impact of the Centre's suggestion to states on reducing fuel prices. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the Centre for high fuel prices and demanded that the Union government should roll back the Rs 10 cess it levied on petrol and diesel before asking the states to reduce taxes. 

She said that the Centre can dictate the BJP-ruled states but not the others. Banerjee claimed that fuel prices were reduced in the international market and asked why these were increasing in the country.

West Bengal had reduced the fuel price by Re 1 in August.

Similarly, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too slammed the Centre's decision of cutting the fuel price by saying that the actual slash should be Rs 10 per litre.