Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan): With fuel prices on a constant rise across India for the past few days, the price of Petrol finally breached the ₹ 100 mark in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar on Wednesday.
Fuel stations in Sri Ganganagar were reportedly retailing petrol for ₹ 100.07 a litre, witnessing a 26 paise hike compared to yesterday. Similarly, diesel was priced at ₹ 92.13 per litre following a 27 paise hike.
While branded or additive-laced petrol, which attracts higher taxes, had crossed the ₹ 100-mark in some places in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, this is the first time that regular petrol crossed the physiological mark.
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest VAT on petrol in the country.
The record price in Rajasthan is despite the state government late last month cutting VAT on petrol and diesel by 2 per cent.
The value-added tax (VAT) on petrol, after the cut, at 36 per cent plus ₹ 1.5 per litre road cess is still the highest in the country. On diesel, the state levies 26 per cent and ₹ 1.75 per litre road cess.
Central and state taxes make up for 60 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and over 54 per cent of diesel.
Read: Petrol, diesel prices rise close to Rs 3/litre in 9 days
The union government levies ₹ 32.90 per litre of excise duty on petrol and ₹ 31.80 a litre on diesel.
The relentless hike in prices has been criticised by the opposition parties that demanded an immediate cut in taxes to ease the burden on the common man.
In Sri Ganganagar city, petrol is being sold at a more expensive rate than in the neighbouring state of Punjab. In order to stop the increasing smuggling due to high rates, there is a demand for adopting Maharashtra's pattern. The rate of VAT on petrol and diesel in Punjab is much lower than in Rajasthan.
Petrol pump operators say that unless the rates of VAT on petrol and diesel are reduced in the state, consumers of Sri Ganganagar will have to buy petrol and diesel at expensive rates. Sri Ganganagar District Petrol Pump Dealers' Association Secretary has said that unless the government decides a policy, people in the border areas will have to buy expensive petrol and diesel.
Fuel at pumps in Sri Ganganagar comes from depots in Jaipur and Jodhpur. As the distance is more than 500 kilometres, the transportation charges on fuel increases. Due to this, there is a difference in prices in different cities.
Among the 33 districts in Rajasthan, petrol is most expensive in Sri Ganganagar.
Petrol pump operator Sanjay Bhatia claims that people are earning profits by selling 20 thousand litres of petrol and diesel from Punjab every day in the area. Due to this, the state government is incurring a revenue loss of about ₹ 1.5 crore every month.
Read: Nation paying 'Modi Tax': Congress slams govt over fuel price hike
