Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: In a move that could possibly help in taming spiraling prices, the Union Government on Tuesday announced a reduction in the basic excise duty levied on petrol and diesel.

As per the decision, the basic excise duty rate on petrol and diesel (both branded and unbranded) will be reduced by Rs 2 per litre. The revised rates will be effective from October 4.

Apart from increase in the prices of crude oil in the international markets, the daily revision of fuel prices had also attributed in the steep hike in the diesel and petrol prices, said sources.

“We hope that the prices of petrol and diesel will now come down considerably after the reduction of basic excise duty rate. It is certainly a respite for us as already the prices of fuel had registered a sharp increase in the past one month,” said Kishore Pradhan, a resident of Bhubaneswar.

Official sources said the decision has been taken by the Government to cushion the impact of rising international prices of crude petroleum oil and petrol and diesel.

This will indirectly help in checking the retail sale prices of petrol and diesel and at the same time protect the interest of common man.

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