Chandigarh, Jul 30 (PTI) Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday demanded that the state government lower taxes on petrol and diesel, saying lockdown restrictions have been largely lifted and almost all sources of government revenue have been restored.

He said the increase in the prices of petroleum products that was effected during the past few weeks should be rolled back.

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“Both the state and the central government should cut their taxes. Crude oil prices have reached 2004 levels in the international market but both the state and the centre continue to tax petroleum products at very high levels, adding to the misery of the farmers and the middle class," he said.

"The Delhi government has decided to reduce the VAT rate on diesel which will reduce its price by Rs 8.36 per litre, the BJP government in Haryana should also reduce the VAT on petroleum products and bring them down to the levels when the Congress was in power in the state,” the senior Congress leader said in a statement here.

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Hooda, who is Leader of Opposition in the state, said the VAT on diesel was around 9 per cent during the previous Congress government's time in the state, which has almost doubled now.

“The farmers and the middle class have been hit the hardest by this as it has a direct relation with inflation. Due to increase in oil prices, the general public too is facing all-round inflation,” he added.

He said farmers of the state have been impacted the hardest by high fuel prices as their input costs have gone up.

Hooda said farmers in the state were already suffering because of alleged government apathy and now high fuel prices were further adding to their woes.

On the locust attacks in the state recently, Hooda said that the locusts' swarms have added to the farmers' problems.

After Palwal, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Gurgaon, Sirsa, Hisar, Jhajjar and Sonipat, locust swarms have also wreaked havoc in the farms of Rohtak, he said.

“Farmers have suffered heavy losses as locust swarms have destroyed standing crops but the insurance companies are refusing to compensate the farmers. In such a situation, the government should come forward to help the farmers and special Girdawari (revenue survey) of the damage caused by locust attack should be done. The government should assess the loss and give appropriate compensation immediately,” Hooda demanded.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)