Effective from midnight, the West Bengal government announced a reduction of tax of Rs.1 on both, petrol and diesel prices.?

The decision shall provide a sigh of relief to people stung by burgeoning prices of fuel, said?State Finance Minister Amit Mitra.?

"The Centre earns Rs 32.90 per litre in taxes from petrol, while the state gets Rs 18.46 only. In the case of diesel, the central government's earning is Rs 31.80 per litre as against Rs 12.77 for the state," Mitra said.

He also alleged that the Centre had imposed cess to avoid devolution with states, which is "against the characteristics of federalism".

To a question, Mitra said the Union government should reintroduce the planning commission.

With PTI Inputs?