The Goa government’s decision to reduce the VAT and state excise duty on petrol has made people of Karwar ecstatic.
The Goa government’s decision to reduce the VAT and state excise duty on petrol has made people of Karwar ecstatic. Since April 1, a litre of petrol costs Rs54.72 in Goa, while it continues to cost Rs73.85 a litre in Karwar. Owing to the difference of Rs19 a litre, many people from Karwar drive to a nearby village in Goa to get their tanks filled.
Pollem in Goa is 14 km from Karwar city. The petrol pumps here see a huge inflow of vehicles with Karnataka registration number. The manager of Mahajan Petrol Pump in Pollem said they were experiencing a “terrific rush” at their petrol pump ever since the fuel’s price came down on April 1. He said because of the difference in prices in Goa and Karwar, many vehicles from Karwar were coming here.
He said the rush was such that they were selling more than 1.5 lakh litres of petrol every day. Sale of this volume, he claimed, was more than what petrol pumps in Panaji (Goa’s capital) or Margao (popular tourist spot in Goa) could boast of. In fact, he said that at his petrol pump, a tanker had to come every day.
A petroleum trader in Vasco, Goa, said that taking note of the volume of vehicles flocking petrol pumps at Goa-Karnataka border, many petrol pump owners in Panaji, Margao, Vasco and Mapusa were planning to start petrol pumps in the border towns/villages.
Prakash Nayak, a Mangalore-based cashew trader who has to visit Goa every week for business purposes, said: “It is so soothing on your pocket that you are paying 40% less on your fuel bill. It is just another reason to visit Goa.”
It is not only the petrol pumps that are making profit, but also the common people in Goa. Be it a liquor shop, eatery, barber shop or general store or even a household, people are selling petrol in bottles, charging rs70 for ‘one litre’. Many fill just about 750 ml and pass it on as one litre.
A top government official said this business was flourishing because of the lack of sufficient number of petrol pumps in Goa.
He said many areas near beach such as Baga, Calangute, Anjuna, Chavdi, Poinguinim, Maxem, Cortalim, Candolim, Betim, Betul, Vagator and Sristhal, do not have petrol pumps.
He said as these areas are tourist hubs, having a petrol pump here would mean reaping gold. That is why, he insisted, there was intense competition to grab petrol pump licences licence in these areas. He said many bigwigs from business, politics and the transport industry were vying for a licence, and that was why nobody was able to get one.
Ex-serviceman Inocio Fernandez of Mapusa, who applied for a petrol pump, had a different version. “I was asked to get clearances from as many as five different departments—tourism, industry, petroleum, civic bodies and the police. I could get none and these are the clearances an ordinary person cannot even dream of getting,” he said.
A petrol pump needs a large area and government land is not available in the beachside towns, though there are large plots available with private parties.
Due to a variety of clearances needed —environment, Coastal Regulation Zone, highway, traffic police and civic bodies, a large portion of the plot is lost for meeting the legal requirements, which is why land owners are not interested in entering the petrol pump business here.
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