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Panel moots uniform sales tax for petro products

The parliamentary standing committee on petroleum and natural gas has advised the ministry to pursue vigorously with the finance ministry the introduction of a uniform sales tax on petroleum products all over India.

The committee headed by former Lok Sabha speaker Balram Jakhar, in its report presented to the Lok Sabha today, said it was happy that the ministry of petroleum and natural gas had taken up its recommendation on the issue with the finance ministry.

It must be taken up conclusively with the finance ministry and the information about the final action to be taken must be given to the committee, the report said.

It said, due to different rates of sales tax in states on the petroleum products, these were lower in some states compared to their neghbouring states. Petroleum products meant for particular areas were often diverted to other areas creating an artificial shortage of the products in the needy areas, including border regions. Therefore, the petroleum and natural gas ministry should declare petroleum products as declared goods so that these were priced uniformly all over the country, the committee said

The committee appreciated the government's decision that the phased programme for dismantling the administered price mechanism for certain petroleum products would be continued.

The committee was informed that there would be no deficit in the oil pool account. The government had, however, not replied to the specific recommendation of the committee on controlling the oil pool deficit by enhancing efficiency of the oil sector and not through increasing the prices of petroleum products frequently.

The government must take steps to increase efficiency of the oil sector, particularly the public sector undertakings under the administrative control of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, the committee said.

The committee has also noted that due to ecological reasons, liquefied petroleum gas was available on demand in hilly areas. But the government was not extending this benefit to other areas with similar conditions like Rajasthan, tribal areas in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The matter should be examined urgently so that the benefits of convenient cooking medium reached the most needy, the committee added.

UNI

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