"Sales tax on diesel at 14 per cent is already on a lower side in Himachal Pradesh than most of the states. It was 20 per cent in the petroleum minister Murli Deora's Maharashtra which has now been reduced to 16 per cent, still 2 per cent higher than HP," Dhumal told reporters.
Lashing out at the UPA government for burdening the common man by frequently hiking fuel prices, Dhumal questioned why it did not abolish import duty on crude oil to control its price.
"The Congress led central government is befooling the people and shifting its responsibility to the states by asking them to reduce sales tax on petroleum products", he said adding it is totally wrong and against the directives of the Finance Commission.
Dhumal was here to launch the ambitious Rs 1365.435 crore state road project.