The president of Jharkhand State Petroleum Dealers Association Ashok Singh, who is also the national vice-president of the All-India Petroleum Dealers Association, said that the recent decision of the State Government increasing the rate of VAT with some surcharge is going to decrease its revenue.
Singh said that with this increase the price of diesel in Jharkhand has gone up in comparison to the neighboring States and it will prove detrimental to revenue collection goal set from the sale of petroleum products in the State.
Before this increase, the rate of diesel was less in Jharkhand in comparison to other neighboring States and it was a major cause of more sales and more revenue. Now, the sale will decrease and thus the revenue will also fall down.
Ashok Singh was in Hazaribagh to attend the meeting of dealers of Hazaribagh, Chatra, Koderma and Ramgarh districts. The State Government has increased the rate of VAT from 18 per cent to 22 with a surcharge of Rs1.
He said that the sale of diesel last year in the State was 1.25 lakh kilolitres. With the help of this sale, the State Government had received revenue of 90 crore during that time.Talking to newsmen after the meeting, Singh said, “As per their estimate, due to the new rate of VAT and added surcharge, the Government will get 40 per cent less revenue.
He said that till now the vehicles of other neighboring States used to take diesel here but after this decision the trend has started being vice-versa.The association demanded that the State Government should implement a fixed amount on VAT in place of rates and surcharges.
Singh said a delegation of association will meet Chief Minister Raghubar Das next week and will talk on the entire issue. If the Government will not accept the demand, “we will go on a token 12-hr strike on a specific day.”