Odisha: New Motor Vehicle Act decreases demand for petrol and diesel

Demand for petrol and diesel has decreased in Odisha after the implementation of new Motor Vehicle Act 2019 as fewer vehicles are plying on roads due to fear of higher fines as provisioned under the new traffic rules.

The decrease is to the tune of 16.5 lakh litres of fuel -- petrol and diesel combined -- which has resulted in a loss of around Rs 5 crore to the state exchequer, said Sanjay Lath, general secretary of Utkal Petroleum Dealers' Association, while talking to ANI.

"The implementation of the new Motor Vehicle Act 2019 has led to a decrease in the sale of petrol by 4,08,000 litres per day and in the sale of diesel by 12,45,000 litres per day," he said.

"The state is losing revenue of Rs 58 lakh per day and Rs 81 lakh per day excise duty on petrol. On diesel, the state government is losing out Rs 1,78,00,000 per day and the Central government is losing out Rs 1,97,00,000 per day," added Lath.

Talking about higher penalties, Abhimanyu Senapati, an auto driver, said: "Punishment should be relaxed for smaller vehicles. The insurance cost has escalated by a high amount in the past few years."

"I have been in queue for four to five hours for pollution checking. The fine on pollution checking should not be Rs 10,000. It should be decreased for smaller vehicles," said Madhusudan Malik, a car owner.