“We have made petrol very cheap in Delhi from today. VAT rates have been reduced from 30% to 19.4%. Petrol and diesel will be cheaper in Delhi as compared to other cities of NCR. I hope this step will bring huge relief to the people of Delhi from inflation,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.

The government issued a statement saying that following the cut, both petrol and diesel will be the cheapest in Delhi among all NCR
towns.

“Delhi’s diesel prices are already the cheapest in NCR at Rs 86.67 per litre while the rates of diesel in Noida and Gurgaon are Rs 87.01 and Rs 87.11 per litre respectively… The Delhi government had marginally increased the VAT on petrol last year. Back then, the VAT on petrol was 27%, which was increased to 30%,” the statement said.

The Centre had announced a reduction of Rs 5 per litre in the excise duty on petrol and Rs 10 per litre on diesel in the first week of November, after fuel prices touched a record high.

Since then, opposition parties in Delhi have been urging the state government to cut VAT on petrol at their end as well. DelhiBJPleaders had demanded that VAT be cut by Rs 10 per litre of petrol, after the Centre’s announcement.

On Wednesday, both the Congress and the BJP demanded that VAT on diesel also be cut to contain inflation.

Delhi BJP President Adesh Gupta said that the protest against the Delhi government will continue unless the prices of diesel are slashed as well.

Delhi Congress President Anil Chaudhary said, “Unless VAT on diesel is also reduced, Delhiites will continue to suffer, as soaring prices of all the essential commodities, due to high rates of transportation costs, have disturbed the household budgets of the people.”