In a major development, the Punjab Government on Thursday marginally hiked petrol and diesel prices of the state. Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema announced new petrol and diesel prices in Punjab during a press briefing. Cheema announced that Punjab has increased VAT on petrol and diesel. After the meeting on Thursday, Finance Minister Harpal Cheema said that VAT has been increased by 61 paise per liter on petrol and 92 paise per liter on diesel.
He further said that this will ensure will give the government an additional income of Rs 150 crores from petrol and Rs 392 crores from diesel. On the question of imposing the burden of inflation on the people, Cheema said that the money that will come from this will be spent on the development of Punjab. Below are Punjab's old and new petrol & diesel prices-
Punjab Current rate of Petrol & Diesel
Petrol: 97.03 rupees per liter
Diesel: 87.34 rupees per liter
Punjab's new rate of petrol & diesel
Petrol: 97.64 rupees
Diesel: 88.26 rupees
Apart from this, Punjab Finance Minister Cheem announced that the Congress government had given relief of Rs 3 per unit to electricity consumers with 7 kilowatt load. This was a double subsidy. The government has stopped it. However, the scheme of giving 300 units of free electricity to every household will continue.