Petrol, diesel smuggling from UT a big worry for dealers in Mohali

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 25

After a septuagenarian businessman committed suicide, there is fear and apprehension about occurring of similar incidents as petroleum sales has gone down by 60 to 80 per cent in the district as compared to Chandigarh in the past three years.

According to sources, petroleum products are smuggled from Chandigarh to Mohali and other areas of Punjab, causing huge losses to the owners of petrol stations located in the vicinity of the UT.

Ashwinder Singh Mongia, president of Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association, claimed that Chandigarh showed a considerable jump of 200 per cent in the sales of petrol and diesel in the past three years as per the figures released by the Union petroleum ministry against the national average of 3 per cent. He said 90 per cent of the petroleum products in Mohali district were bought by farmers and industries while 10 per cent were sold in retail. In Chandigarh, 10 per cent sales were to industries and 90 per cent of petroleum products were sold in retail. He said with the increase in VAT by the Punjab Government, the situation became totally different as farmers, who took their produce to the 26 grain market in Chandigarh for selling it, brought back diesel in drums. Even Mohali industries were purchasing petroleum products from UT. Diesel was cheaper in UT by Rs3 per litre.

Mongia said Gurkirat Singh Chawla, the owner of three petrol pumps who committed suicide at a hotel in Panchkula, had been waging a lonely battle to convince the state government over this issue. He said in 2017, Chawla sold 14 lakh litres of petroleum products per month at his Phase 7 petrol pump, which came down to 2 lakh litres per month. He said instead of purchasing petrol or diesel from his pump, people got it at a cheaper rate from the Sector 52 pump in Chandigarh, which was hardly a km away.

Mongia said the state government should bring the fuel prices on a par with the UT, the way it did in case of liquor. He said bringing VAT on fuel on a par with Chandigarh would put an end to its smuggling, besides preventing loss to the exchequer. He said if immediate steps were not taken, there was every possibility that anyone among the sufferers could take the extreme step.