AP slaps road cess on fuel

● SOURCES SAID it is doubtful if the amount pooled from the road cess would be used for repairs as the Road Development Corporation has to fulfill its debt service obligations for its borrowing last year.

The Andhra Pradesh government will levy road cess on diesel and petrol, making them costlier.

The state Cabinet in its recent meeting had approved the proposal to levy `1 per litre each on petrol and diesel and government would come up with an ordinance for the purpose in a day or two.

Official sources told Deccan Chronicle that the additional burden on consumers on account of the cess would be around `600 crore per annum.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy gave instructions to the officials concerned to take up road repair works across the state using the sum. He is believed to have commented that the people wouldn’t appreciate delay in road repairs and that the image of his government would be affected despite doing extremely well in the welfare sector.

The officials blamed it on the empty coffers and suggested levying road cess and a mechanism wherein the fund raised would be exclusively spent to repair roads.

The AP Road Development Corporation had borrowed `3,000 crore in February last year but the amount was diverted for the Chandrababu Naidu government’s poll-time Pasupu Kunkuma scheme.

Sources said it is doubtful if the amount pooled through the road cess could be used for repairs as the Road Development Corporation has to fulfill its debt service obligations for the loan raised last year. “The additional amount we intend to raise through the cess will be more or less equivalent to the debt servicing,” a senior official said.