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With
the new prices coming into effect from midnight, the retail
price of petrol has come down by just 58 paise per litre,
diesel by just 12 paise per litre and LPG by 95 paise per
cylinder.
With
minor changes because of levy of octroi on petrol, the new
prices of petrol, to come into effect from this midnight will
be Rs 54.99 per litre. The new retail price of diesel will be
Rs 34.26 per litre, while that of the LPG will be Rs 345.85
per cylinder.
The
decision to reduce the prices was taken by the Punjab Cabinet
on June 12, a few days after the Centre had hiked the price of
petrol by Rs 5 a litre, diesel by Rs 3 a litre and LPG by Rs
50 a cylinder.
The
reduced prices were not effected immediately as model code of
conduct was in force in the state. Though the state government
will lose Rs 75 crore per annum by granting this relief to the
people, the reduction of VAT on the enhanced price of these
petro-products is insignificant as compared to the
neighbouring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and union
territory of Chandigarh.
Before
the price hike on petro-products was announced last month,
diesel was the cheapest in Punjab, which ensured that the sale
of diesel in the state was the highest in the region.
With
Haryana having reduced VAT on diesel from 12 per cent to 8.8
per cent, the retail price of diesel was reduced by Re 1 a
litre. With the reduction in VAT in Punjab, the retail price
of diesel in the state has come down by just 12 paisa per
litre. As a result, the price of diesel in both states is the
same.
J.P.Khanna,
president of the Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association, while
talking to TNS, said that if the government wanted to give
relief to people, it should have reduced VAT on petrol and
diesel, which is amongst the highest in the country.
“VAT,
cess and octroi on petrol is almost 30.5 per cent.
Comparatively, while no cess and octroi on petrol is levied in
the neighbouring states, VAT is levied at the rate of 20 per
cent in Haryana, 24 per cent in Himachal Pradesh and 22 per
cent in Chandigarh,” he said.
Khanna
added that by reducing VAT on petrol and diesel, the state
government would have been able to plug the outflow of
customers to neighbouring areas of Haryana. “This would have
led to increased revenue for the state government. In
Maharashtra, after the VAT on diesel was reduced last year,
the outflow to neighbouring state of Gujarat was plugged,
increasing the sales and leading to an additional revenue of
Rs 800 crore,” he said.
Source
: Chandigarh Tribune - India, dated 10/07/2008
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