Amid rising prices, smuggling of petrol, diesel on the rise in state
Police say half-adozen smugglers arrested in last three months, 43,000 litre oil recovered
JAIPUR: The rise in prices of petrol and diesel has increased the oil smuggling in border districts of Rajasthan, the police department data show.
According to the police, between November 1, 2020 and February 4, 2001, at least half-adozen people were arrested from the national highways (NH) connecting Rajasthan and Haryana for their involvement in smuggling of petrol and diesel. Around 42,900 litre petrol and diesel was recovered from their possession.
Police officials said the number of cases that have come to light is tip of the iceberg, while the real numbers may be high. “On various NHS passing through Shahpura, Jobner, Phagi and Dudu, six persons were arrested under relevant sections of the Essential Commodities Act and Indian Penal Code in five cases. The number of people involved in oil smuggling may be high,” said a senior police official of Jaipur police.
He said, “Keeping in view the rising petrol prices, we had increased our vigil on the highways that connect Haryana and Rajasthan, as there were high chances that oil smuggling.”
Talking about the modus oprandi of oil smugglers, he said, “The smugglers transfer oil from tankers of the national oil companies to private tankers behind sheds of eateries on the highways. They break the seal of tankers to steal oil from them and sell the stolen oil via different modes.”
Leader of the opposition, Gulab Chand Kataria had raised the issue recently in the budget session of state assembly. “As the value added tax (VAT) (on petrol) in the state (Rajasthan) is high compared to other bordering states like Haryana and
Gujarat, the smuggling on petrol is high and as a result, the business of petrol pump owners in border districts has declined. Just like liquor, illegal gangs have emerged in this sector too,” Kataria had said.
A truck driver from Jaipur said that because of the high diesel prices in Rajasthan, the truck drivers avoid fuelling their trucks in the state. “The reason is that if a truck fills 500 litre of diesel, it saves between ₹500 and ₹600,” he said.
The average price of petrol was ₹76.09 per litre till April 2020, which has increased to ₹100 -- a rise of almost 32%.
Sri Ganaganagar Petroleum Dealer Association president Ashutosh Gupta claimed if VAT is not reduced soon, around 75% of petrol pumps will get closed in the district. “More than 3-4 petrol pumps have closed, as the expenditure could not be met. Around six months back, a pump running for last 60 years was sold by its owner as the expenditure was higher than the sale,” said Gupta. Two other pumps were also sold by their owners in last one year as the sale was too less to continue operations, he added.
Vimal Bhiyani, who owns a petrol pump in Ganganagar, said that the sale of petrol and diesel has declined by 40% in last few months, all because of VAT differences among the state and non-uniform transportation cost. “I own this pump since 1967 and it is 4.3 km from
Punjab border. I have never seen such a decline in sale. Due to the rate differences, smuggling is increasing and petrol/ diesel is sold illegally. If this continues, then pumps in bordering districts will get closed,” he said.
“According to Thursday rates, there is a difference of ₹9 in petrol and ₹10 in diesel between Rajasthan and Punjab, as taxes are less there,” he added.
Rajasthan Petroluem Dealers’ Association president Sunit Bagai, said, “It is surprising that petrol prices vary from place to place in one state. In absence of transparency, the consumer has to bear the burden of increasing prices.”
He said the price of normal petrol in Ganganagar is ₹100.08 per litre and that in Jaipur is ₹95.99 per litre – a difference of ₹4.09. The difference is because of transportation charges. The petrol companies are charging around ₹3.50 per litre plus taxes for the transportation.
The petrol is supplied in Ganganagar from Jaipur or Jodhpur depots. “The prices aren’t just varying district to district; but pump to pump within a district; the petrol prices are same if the pumps are in 20km radius of the depot and if not then per litre transportation charges are fixed,” said Bagai.
He claimed that the companies are hiring tankers at around ₹1.65 per litre transportation charge, but the pumps are charged close to Rs 4 per litre.
In recent past, both the Centre and the state governments have blamed each other for levying steep taxes on fuel prices. “While the Indian government is trying its best to reduce the prices of petrol, the Ashok Gehlot government in the state has enough allocations to reduce fuel prices. It depends on him how much he wants to ease the load on people,” Union minister Smriti Irani had said during a press conference in Jaipur on February 7.
In the state assembly on Monday, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had said the Centre was responsible for high fuel prices because it was not reducing the taxes. “If we reduce the taxes, then our revenue will decline. In view of the public sentiments, despite the pandemic, the state reduced two percentage points of VAT resulting in a loss of ₹1,000 crore. Now, the Centre should reduce the taxes to lessen the burden on people,” Gehlot had said.
Prices of petrol and diesel across the country are marketdetermined and attract uniform central excise duty, but their prices differ from state to state because of the wide variations in the local levies or valueadded tax. The Central government levies ₹32.98 per litre of excise duty on petrol and ₹31.83 a litre on diesel. Central and state taxes make up for over 61 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and about 56 per cent of diesel.
The international oil prices touched USD 61 per barrel for the first time in more than a year on improving demand and hope amid the global rollout of Covid-19 vaccines further sending the fuel prices through the roof.