On the order of the State Government, the petrol pumps located across the State raised the price of diesel by Rs2.06 per litre while that of petrol by Rs5.12 per litre. They started selling diesel for Rs49.38 per litre and petrol Rs67.21 per litre. Now, with the State Government having rolled back the hike in the price of diesel as per the order dated September 16, the question that begs answer is what the State Government would do with the petrol pumps which have earned extra for the time confusion prevailed over the price front of fuel. Notably, the petrol pumps located in the State earned Rs27.19 lakh per day with this confusion.
Talking to The Pioneer, the State Petrol Pump Association’s secretary Amarjeet Sethi said there are, in all, 440 petrol pumps across the State and around 3000 litres of diesel are being sold per day in each of such pumps.
With the State Government having a flip- flop on the price of diesel, the petrol pumps earned extra to the tune of lakhs during the time the hiked diesel price prevailed in the market. The question is: Would the State Government move to get from them what is its dueIJ
But things are tricky as seldom the petrol pump owners give receipts against sales of diesel or petrol unless the customers demand them. The thing is that the customers paid the extra by way of the hike for some hours till it was withdrawn. It is what can be called loss on both sides.
The customers paid the hiked prices while not much is likely to get into the state’s coffer. It was rather win- win for the owners of the petrol pumps who seem to have pocketed the amount silently.