Haryana petrol pumps call for strike today over Centre's decision to reduce excise duty on petrol, diesel

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Haryana Petroleum Dealers Association has called for a statewide strike on Monday to protest against the union government's sudden decision to reduce central excise duty leading to loss of petrol pump owners. The strike that began at 6 am today will end at 6 am on Tuesday.

"We demand the government to hike our commission and reimburse losses suffered due to sudden cut in excise duty. Due to the Centre's decision on reducing the price of petrol and diesel, dealers have faced a loss of lakhs, therefore we demand our reimbursement on loss," Association's senior state vice president, Palwinder Singh told ANI.

Speaking to ANI, Anil Kumar, State president petroleum dealers association had said, "We have been writing to the Haryana government about our concern but they are not responding to us. If the government does not listen to us, we will hold a strike. We will neither buy nor purchase oil."

Earlier in November, in a significant decision, the Centre reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel to bring down the prices of the two petroleum products which had been seeing an upward trend. The relief to consumers came on the eve of Diwali. The Finance Ministry said that excise duty on petrol will come down by Rs 5 and that on diesel by Rs 10.

It urged the states "to commensurately reduce" VAT on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers.

Following the Centre's suit, many other states have also announced a reduction in Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel.

(With ANI updates)

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