One state, one price: Dealers hail Rajasthan govt’s move, seek GST on petrol

Jaipur, March 15 (IANS) A day after the Rajasthan government scrapped the concept of 'different cities, different prices’ for petrol and diesel and termed it as a “discrepancy”, the Petroleum Pump Dealers Association in the state welcomed the move and expressed the hope that petrol would come under GST purview soon.   

President of the Petroleum Pump Dealers Association in Rajasthan, Rajendra Singh Bhati on Friday told IANS, “This ‘One price, one state’ concept is a welcome move. Rajasthan has become the first state in India where there is one price of petrol and diesel in each district. Now, we hope that petrol will soon come under GST purview.”

Rajasthan Chief Minister, Bhajan Lal Sharma, had on Thursday said that his government had removed the discrepancy under which the rates of petrol and diesel were different in different cities of the state.

In the districts where the rates of petrol and diesel were high, the prices for the two fuels were reduced with a larger margin, whereas in the districts where the rates were lower, the prices were reduced with a lesser margin.

The state government also reduced VAT by 2 per cent while the Centre, too, made petrol and diesel cheaper by Rs 2 per litre.

Petrol and diesel in Rajasthan became available at cheaper rates from Friday morning as the new prices came into effect across the state.

CM Sharma said that the reduced prices of petrol and diesel would put a burden of Rs 1,500 crore on the state government.