Nearly 800 fuel stations in Punjab on verge of closure

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 19

Higher petrol and diesel price in Punjab as compared to neighbouring states is not only impacting the consumers but also proving as a stumbling block for many fuel stations as their sustenance is at stake because sales volume has gone down drastically.

According to data, the average monthly sale of petrol and diesel in Punjab was 90 KL per fuel station during April-September as compared to 155 KL in Haryana and 183 KL in Himachal.

“On an average, a fuel station should sell 100 KL of fuel per month for sustainability. However, in Punjab, 72% fuel stations (2,492) are selling less than 100 KL per month. As many as 721 fuel stations (21%) have average sale volume of less than 36 KL,” said Gurmeet Monty Sehgal, spokesperson, Petrol Pump Dealers Association Punjab.

The fuel station owners attribute the declining sales to high concentration of petrol pumps in the state and higher VAT on petrol and diesel in the state. Punjab has 3,460 fuel stations of public sector oil marketing companies — IndianOil (1,848), Bharat Petroleum (680) and Hindustan Petroleum (932). Punjab levies 35.25% VAT on petrol and 16.82% on diesel.

As compared to Punjab, the VAT on petrol and diesel in neighbouring states such as J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and UT of Chandigarh is lower and people living in the border districts prefer to purchase fuel where the rates are low.

With sales being shifted to other states, around 800 fuel stations in border districts of Mohali, Rupnagar, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Sangrur, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib are running into heavy losses and on the verge of closure, say fuel station owners.