Rajasthan fuel pump dealers call off strike after state govt agrees to look into demands

Rajasthan fuel pump dealers association on Friday suspended their call for an indefinite strike for the next 10 days after the state government formed a high-power committee to look into their demands.

Rajasthan fuel pump dealers' association on Friday suspended their call for an indefinite strike for the next 10 days after the state government formed a high-power committee to look into their demands. The committee will submit its report after 10 days, following which the association will decide its next course of action. Fuel pump dealers in the state had called for an indefinite strike starting Friday, demanding reduction of Value-Added Tax (VAT) rates and make them at par with neighbouring Punjab. ''The strike has been called off. The state government has formed a high-power committee to look into the demands and will submit its report in 10 days in the benefit of the state and its people,'' Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas told reporters at a press conference here.

Rajasthan levies 31.04 per cent VAT on petrol and 19.30 per cent on diesel. The VAT rate in Punjab is 13.77 per cent on petrol and 9.92 per cent on diesel, the Rajasthan Petroleum Dealers' Association (RPDA) said.

Hitting out at the Centre for high fuel prices, he said crude price in international market is USD 90 per barrel at present but during the UPA government, petrol and diesel cost less even when crude price was USD 130 per barrel.

He said the Centre has levied special and additional excise and cess on fuel and is filling its coffers whereas are states are not getting the benefit from it. ''We have suspended our strike for 10 days. A high power committee has been formed and it will submit its report in 10 days and take a decision on our demands,'' RPDA President Rajendra Singh Bhati said. He said that the key demands include increasing the fuel pump dealers commission, high power committee takes decision on reducing VAT rate, opening a depot in border district and take the petrol and diesel under GST ambit.

RPDA general secretary Suneet Bagai said reducing VAT rate will not only increase the state government's revenue but will also not put a burden on the government. ''We have presented the data before the government to validate the fact,'' he said.

Before the suspension of the strike was announced, many fuel pumps across the state remained shut. In Jaipur, major fuel pumps remained closed except the fuel company-operated pumps. There were long queues of vehicles outside the fuel pumps that were open. Kota petrol dealers' association president Taruneet Singh Bedi said pumps were open after being shut for the past two days to support the association.

The pump dealers went on a two-day strike on Wednesday and Thursday from 10 am to 6 pm and late on Thursday night, they threatened to go on an indefinite strike if their demands were not met.