Pump owners not to buy fuel from tomorrow

Fuel pump owners in several districts of Punjab today said they will not buy fuel from oil companies from tomorrow till their demand are not met.
Petroleum dealers under the banner of Petrol Pump Dealers Association of Punjab have been on hunger strike in support of their demands.
They are demanding reduction in VAT on diesel and petrol, claiming that higher taxes on fuel were hitting the sales of pumps which were located near the border areas of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
They are also demanding shifting the base for retail selling rate of fuel from Panipat to Bathinda.
"From tomorrow, fuel pump dealers of nine districts in Punjab will not purchase fuel," Association's Vice President Ashwinder Mongia said today.

Fuel pump owners of nine districts -Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr, Ropar, Mohali, Patiala, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib and Mansa are participating in their protest.

On April 29, petroleum dealers had gone on hunger strike. "One of our dealers G S Chawla who was on hunger strike was today taken to hospital as his condition deteriorated," Mongia said.
Fuel pump owners said Punjab was charging 17.64 per cent VAT on diesel whereas in Haryana it was 17.22 per cent. Moreover, in Himachal Pradesh, the VAT on diesel was 16 per cent.
As a result of lower VAT in neighbouring states, sale of fuel in bordering areas was affected.

Similarly, VAT on petrol in Punjab was highest among neighbouring states including Haryana, UT Chandigarh, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.
Punjab levies 36.94 per cent VAT on petrol as against tax in 27 per cent each in Delhi and HP, 26.25 per cent in Haryana and 26.34 in Haryana.
Despite taking up the matter with the concerned authorities in Punjab, nothing has been done to resolve their issues, they said.