Heavy loss of sales has made over 200 fuel pumps in the city unviable due to price differences resulting from increased value added tax (VAT), making petrol and diesel more expensive in the Capital compared to the neighbouring cities, a body of fuel pump owners said here on Monday.
The Delhi Petrol Dealers Association (DPDA), which is a body of petrol pump owners and has 400 fuel pumps, employing more than 50,000 workers as its members, urged the Delhi government to reduce VAT on petroleum products in the city.
On May 5, the Delhi government had increased VAT on petrol to 30% from 27% and, in the case of diesel, almost doubled it to 30% from 16.75%.
“This increase in VAT has resulted in a price difference of more than ₹8 per litre in diesel with the neighbouring States,” DPDA president Anil Bijlani said.
“Despite our several requests and representations, mails and tweets, the Delhi government has shown no empathy towards the 400 petrol dealers and their 50,000 employees and the family members of these employees in these distressed times,” Mr. Bijlani said.
Dealers who had begun to find their respective pumps unviable would have to resort to cost cutting for survival, the DPDA said. Some of the steps that they would be forced to take would include decreasing manpower, reduce working hours by operating petrol pumps only during the day since night operations were expensive and were not required as no diesel sales were left.
While the diesel price was more than petrol only in Delhi as the rate of VAT on both products was 30%, everywhere else in the country, including the neighbouring States of Delhi, the DPDA said, the difference between the two products was still ₹6 to ₹9 per litre.
