Call to roll back tax hike on petrol, diesel

The Laghu Udyog Bharti, Punjab, has expressed displeasure over the government’s decision to increase VAT on petrol and diesel and demanded the immediate rollback of the hike.

Talking to journalists here today, LUB president Ashok Gupta and vice-president Ashok Sethi stated that the government had raised VAT by 61 paise per litre on petrol and 92 paise per litre on diesel. They said this would have a detrimental impact on small industries, which are already fighting for survival.

Sethi said due to the frequent power cuts, the industry was forced to rely on diesel-powered generators to operate. The hike in diesel prices would significantly increase the production costs, which small industrialists could no longer afford under the current conditions.

Sethi further suggested that if the government needed to boost revenue, it could consider reducing the free electricity provision from 300 units per month to 250 or 200 units, rather than burdening small industries with additional costs.

Interestingly, just two days ago, the government was praised for scrapping the NOC requirement for registering plots up to 500 square yards.