Nagpur: Vehicle users better fill up petrol and diesel on Sunday itself as the pump owners have called bandh on Monday to protest flawed system to recover Local Body Tax (LBT) enforced by civic bodies. Even though LBT has been scrapped on turnover less than Rs 50 crore the benefit is not reaching the consumers due to faulty system of recovery, feel the pump owners. Hence the bandh has been called on Monday.
The State Government has dumped the LBT in 25 municipal limits from August 1 this year. But the tax stares the faces of those having turnover more than Rs 50 crore. And here lies the confusion. At present, the oil companies pay the LBT. It means when the tankers of pump owners exit the depots the LBT is already calculated. Therefore, the pump owners have to sell the LBT imposed fuel because the turnover of depots is more than Rs 50 crore. The pump owners consider this system as flawed and have themselves demanded that the LBT be recovered from them. The reason put forward by pump owners is that hardly one percent of pump owners in Nagpur have turnover more than Rs 50 crore. In this situation, if the LBT is recovered from pump owners themselves they need not pay the LBT. This will automatically reduce the price of fuel in city limits, argue the pump owners.
This very point has been focused by FAMPEDA (Federation of All Maharashtra Petroleum Dealers’ Association). If LBT is recovered from dealers, the price of petrol and diesel will certainly come down by 2-3 percent in 25 municipal limits across the State, said FAMPEDA. If the Government wants to avoid inconvenience of people it should arrive at a concrete decision immediately. A decision before September 6 would avert the strike, said FAMPEDA.
