Haryana Petroleum Dealers Association end strike over reduction of excise duty on fuel price

The one-day state-wide strike by the Haryana Petroleum Dealers Association against the Centre’s decision to suddenly reduce excise duty on fuel price ended today, 16 November. The 24-hour strike began from 6:00 am Monday (15 November) and ended at 6:00 am on Tuesday. The strike was held to protest against the Centre’s decision to reduce central excise duty that has led to petrol pump owners facing losses. In early November, the Centre reduced the excise duty by Rs 5 and Rs 10 per litre on petrol and diesel rates respectively. They took up this decision to give relief to consumers who are facing record-high retail fuel prices. Following that, the Haryana government declared a reduction in Value Added Tax (VAT), making the price of both the fuels in the BJP-ruled state cheaper by Rs 12 per litre. The association’s senior state vice president, Palwinder Singh,  told news outlets that their demand was that the government hike their commission and reimburse them for the losses they have incurred due to the government’s move, adding that “dealers have faced a loss of lakhs” due to the sudden policy change. Anil Kumar, state president of the petroleum dealers association, also alleged on 12 November that the association has been asking and writing to the Haryana government about its concerns but received no positive response on it yet. So far, 25 states and a few union territories have reduced the VAT to give relief to consumers who are facing record-high retail prices. Moreover, the states/UTs that extended additional VAT benefits include Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Mizoram, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Gujarat, Nagaland, Ladakh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Chandigarh, Punjab, Goa, Meghalaya, Odisha, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. However, VAT has not been lowered in states such as Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.