Chandigarh, December 18: Petroleum dealers of Punjab Monday urged Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal to bring uniformity in taxation on fuel, saying that high tax rates in the state was leading to rampant smuggling of petrol and diesel which would cause a revenue loss of Rs 700 crore to the state exchequer.
A delegation of the Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association met Badal here and apprised him of problems being faced by fuel pump owners because of prevailing high tax rates in Punjab in comparison to neighbouring states.
Association member Ashwinder Singh Mongia said Punjab levies 17.28 on diesel and 36.85 on petrol which was more than what neighbouring states Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and UT Chandigarh levy on petroleum items.
Citing an example, he said that difference between retail petrol price in Punjab and Chandigarh was Rs 9.53 per litre and similarly diesel is costlier by Rs 3.85 per litre in Punjab than Chandigarh.
“Because of big difference between retail price of fuel, rampant smuggling of fuel is taking from Chandigarh to several parts of Punjab. Besides, it has led to decline in sale of petroleum products in the state as well. If it goes unabated, then the state will face revenue loss of about Rs 700 crore in current finance year,” said Mongia.
“Punjab has lost 175 crore of revenue collections in 2017-18 whereas other states have grown by 9 to 20 per cent during the same period. This is attributed to shift of business, loss of sale and rampant smuggling. Other states are growing at the expanse of Punjab,” he said.
He further said other states are gaining revenue at the cost of Punjab and the petrol pumps in the state are bleeding.
“About 1,600 petrol pumps situated in border areas and the highways shall soon shut down if immediate steps are not taken,” Mongia said.
Source Economic Times
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