Shillong: In a good news Meghalaya has cut down the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 7 approximately in the state.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday informed that the fuel prices will be reduced by Rs 7 approximately. "Both prices of petrol and diesel will be cut down by Rs 7 approx. The decision has been taken to ensure that the customers are not affected by the high prices in order to give some relief to them," said the Chief Minister while talking to media persons.

The Chief Minister of the state was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, "Keeping this aspect in mind and the fact that consumers are being affected and despite the fact that the state is facing financial issues and the VAT that we have collected from petrol and diesel has helped the state in difficult times of COVID-19, the government has decided that we will be reducing the VAT for petrol and diesel".

The government will reduce the VAT for petrol from 31.62 per cent (Rs 17.60 per litre) to 20 per cent or (Rs 15 per litre). "The VAT on diesel has been reduced from 22.59 per cent (Rs 12.50 per litre) to 12 per cent or (Rs 9 per litre)," the Chief Minister said.

By decreasing the VAT, the price of petrol in Shillong will drop from Rs 91.26 to Rs 85.86 per litre. On the other side the price of diesel will cut down from Rs 84.23 to Rs 79.13 per litre.

The Chief Minister on his official Twitter handle wrote, “In addition to the previous rebate of Rs. 2 per litre, Government has decided to reduce the petrol price further by Rs.5.4 per litre and diesel by Rs. 5.1 per litre to offer relief to consumers of #Meghalaya with slight variations in other Districts.”