Ranchi, Sep 16 (IANS): The Jharkhand government has raised the tax on petrol and diesel. Petrol will be costlier by Rs.4.54 per litre and diesel by Rs.4.21 per litre.

The Jharkhand cabinet on Tuesday approved hiking of taxes on the two fuels.

Following the announcement, the Jharkhand Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Wednesday burnt effigies of Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

The Congress burnt the effigy at the Rajendra roundabout, while the JMM burnt the effigy of the chief minister at the Albert Ekka roundabout.

"The prices of onion, pulses and other things are already high. The BJP government's decision to hike taxes on petrol and diesel will further put burden on the common people," Congress general secretary Alok Dubey told IANS.

"Jharkhand is already charging 22 percent VAT on petrol and diesel. The government is unable to spend the budget money and is hiking the taxes," he said.

JMM leader Vinod Pandey said the BJP government "was spending crores of rupees on purchasing vehicles for ministers and bureaucrats, and on other hand putting burden on the people by hiking taxes on petrol and diesel".