SHILLONG, MAY 27: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday said the recent rise in petrol prices is linked to global factors, especially the ongoing war, and urged citizens to prepare for uncertainty while ruling out fuel rationing in Meghalaya for now.
“The high rise of petrol as you are aware, has a lot to do with the external factor of the war that is happening and this is a global phenomenon and, therefore, it is impacting everyone,” Sangma said.
“So therefore, it is not something that is only isolated to Meghalaya or only to India, it is a phenomenon that is impacting the world at large, and many nations, in fact, had to go into even austerity in terms of rationalizing the quantity of fuel being given to individuals,” he said.
Sangma said the state had not reached that stage. “We have not reached that point and I do not expect that we will reach it but of course, uncertainty looms ahead for us, so we have to be careful,” he said.
Referring to the Centre’s stand, he said, “I think that is what the Prime Minister’s larger message is that, it is not the time that we need to panic, but we definitely need to see what we can do because of the uncertainty that is there.”
“What we can do as individuals is to prepare for the uncertainty that is in front of us, so, I think that is the larger picture,” he added.
“It is a difficult time, we urge, of course our citizens also that we must all be together, we must stand together, these are difficult times that the globe and the world is facing at large,” Sangma said.
He noted that fuel prices in the state remain below the national average. “From our side as you are aware that the overall prices are very much below the average at the national level, but wherever possible, we will try our best to see that there is no shortage,” he said.
On measures to curb artificial price rise, he said, “We will ensure that there is no kind of hoarding or stocking that takes place that could lead to any kind of rise in prices but yes, as I said, this is the reality and we need to adjust to it, and we need to prepare for uncertainty, but we do hope that we will be able to see positive outcomes at the international level, though completely out of our control, we hope that things will normalize soon.”
“But in the meantime, I think everybody has to just prepare through these uncertain times,” he added.
On demands to cut state taxes, Sangma said Meghalaya’s rates are already low. “Every state can reduce state tax, we are already low compared to others, but as I said, it affects our revenues also, we also have our own expenditures to meet,” he said.
“The country’s smallest states, like us, have got less sources of revenue and, therefore, it is a very difficult call for us,” he said.
“We need to see the impact that it will have on our own state’s resources and the resources we require to run, so therefore all these factors need to be looked into.”
