Petrol costs ₹101.80 per litre in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar
Prices of petrol and diesel across the country are market-determined and attract uniform central excise duty, but their prices differ from state to state because of the wide variations in the local levies or value-added tax.
With a hike of 38 paise and 26 paise on Wednesday and Tuesday respectively, the price of petrol in Sri Ganganagar of Rajathan has reached ₹98.40 per litre and premium petrol has reached ₹101.80 per litre. In capital Jaipur, the petrol price has increased to reach ₹93.86 per litre and diesel price to ₹85.94 per litre.
The price of petrol is ₹93 upwards across the state, while the rate of diesel is more than ₹85 per litre.
Prices of petrol and diesel across the country are market-determined and attract uniform central excise duty, but their prices differ from state to state because of the wide variations in the local levies or value-added tax (VAT).
According to an official notification released by the Rajasthan government in May last year, the VAT on diesel prices is 28% whereas VAT on petrol was in access of 38 %.
In the neighbouring states, VAT ranges from 20 to 33% on petrol and 16 to 23% on diesel. Due to this, petrol in Rajasthan is costlier by 8 to 10 rupees and diesel by 4 to 11 rupees than other states.
In Punjab, the VAT on petrol is 25% and on Diesel it is 15.94%; in Haryana 25% and 16.40%; Gujarat- 20.20 and 20.20% and in UP, it stood at 26.80 and 17.48% for petrol and diesel respectively.
A truck driver from Jaipur said that because of the high prices, they avoid fuelling their trucks in the state.
“The reason is that if a truck fills 500 liters of diesel, then it saves between 400 and 500 rupees. For example, on Wednesday, diesel is ₹90.11 in Sri Ganganagar, but in neighboring Punjab, it is cheaper by ₹11.22 per litre. Similarly, petrol in Dungarpur is ₹95.93, while in neighboring Gujarat, it is cheaper by ₹11.85 per litre,” the truck driver said.
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Rajasthan Petroleum Dealers Association (RPDA) President Sunit Bagai said that the body has already given a memorandum to the state government protesting against the highest VAT in the country on automobile fuels.
“Last year, VAT was hiked to increase the revenue. Even if the government reduces VAT by more than 5%, its revenue will not decrease,” he said.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot had held the Centre responsible for the hike in petrol prices in state. “Blaming state government for hike in fuel prices is completely rubbish. When price of crude petroleum had reached 140 dollars per barrel in the international market, the retail prices of petrol in the UPA government were between ₹60 and ₹65 per litres. Now, price of crude petroleum is 40 dollars for a barrel, then why are petrol prices being continuously increased,” he had said while talking to the media on the Republic Day at the secretariat in Jaipur.
