Filling stations on Punjab borders losing a fortune

BATHINDA: It is not only the common man who is feeling the pinch of the recent petrol price hike as over 450 petrol filling stations situated along the Punjab-Haryana-Chandigarh inter-state border areas within Punjab have also been hit hard.
As petrol in Haryana and Chandigarh is now about Rs 6 per liter cheaper than Punjab because of lower tax rates, sale of petrol at fuel stations in the border area of Punjab has started witnessing a steep fall following the hike.The reason behind costlier petrol in Punjab is simple. Punjab imposes 32.75% of the basic cost as value added tax (VAT), surcharges and octroi on petrol, which is highest in the country. On the other hand, the taxes on petrol in Haryana are 20.5%, 24% in Himachal Pradesh and 22% in Chandigarh.
Over 450 fuel stations operating from the border areas in Bathinda, Patiala, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Mohali were already losing out on huge volume of sale to Haryana, HP and Chandigarh, but now increase of Rs 5 in petrol prices will further adversely affect their sale. "Most of the consumers in the inter-state border areas prefer refilling from pumps situated in Haryana," said JP Khanna, president of Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association. Not only petrol, but as diesel is also comparatively cheaper in Haryana, the sale of diesel at pumps in the border areas of Punjab is much lower. Punjab is charging 11.68% taxes on diesel in comparison to 9% taxes charged in Haryana.
"It is customary for the SAD(B)-BJP government in Punjab to criticize every decision of the Union government, so it did exactly the same. But otherwise, with a hike of Rs 5 per liter, the state is set to earn about Rs 120 crore per annum more as taxes on petrol sale in Punjab," said Kulbhushan Gupta, a petrol pump owner from Bathinda. "Petrol sale at my pump plummeted by 40% after the recent hike," he said. With annual petrol sale of about 78.80 crore liter in Punjab and the state charging 32.75% taxes on petrol, the hike will bring a huge earning as taxes for Punjab government," said JP Khanna.
The excise and taxation department had recently mooted a proposal to reduce taxes in some border areas, bringing it at par with Haryana and Chandigarh to assess the increased sale and increased tax collection vis-Ã -vis the loss with reduction in taxes. Mohali district was selected for reducing the taxes, bringing it at par with Chandigarh. "The agenda was discussed in a meeting but as there were operational problems, it was finally not implemented," said A Venu Prasad, excise and taxation commissioner.