Punjab infrastructure fee on fuel caused Rs 41 crore revenue loss, say fuel pump owners

Punjab's fuel pump owners on Friday said infrastructure development (ID) fee on petrol and diesel has done more harm than good for the state.

They claimed that the state government has suffered a revenue loss of Rs 41 crore after imposition of the fee on automotive fuel.

In a meeting on Friday with the Advisory Committee on Trade and Industrial Affairs, the Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association pointed to the fuel tax variations between Punjab and adjoining states that are causing the revenue loss.

"In about one month, there is a revenue loss of Rs 41 crore to the state exchequer because of ID fee imposed by the state government," said Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association Executive Member and President of Mohali Petroleum Dealers Association Ashwinder Mongia here.

"We raised this issue in the meeting here," he said.

The Advisory Committee is headed by Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Saroop Chand Singla and N K Sharma.

During the meeting, the Dealers Association representatives explained how these tax variations are encouraging smuggling of oil from other states to border districts of Punjab.

They said such activities are also causing tax evasion.

Special Principal Secretary to Deputy CM Ajay Kumar Mahajan spoke of a recent high-level meeting on rationalisation of the present tax structure, adding that there was broad understanding among all northern states on this issue.

The Punjab Cabinet on May 20 announced an ID fee Re 1 per litre on diesel and hiked the same on petrol to Rs 2 per litre as part of its decision to upgrade rural and urban infrastructure.

After the imposition of the levy, petrol and diesel prices in Punjab have become dearer by Rs 1.30 and Rs 1.13, respectively.