Around 1200 petrol pumps across Jharkhand were closed for 12 hours on Monday following a strike call demanding reduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel in the state.
The 6 am to 6 pm strike call was given by the Jharkhand Petroleum Dealers Association (JPDA).
Petrol pumps in the bordering areas were worst hit as people now prefer to purchase fuel from neighbouring West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh where VAT is less than that in the state, JPDA president Rajeev Singh claimed.
"We have been left with no option but to shut down petrol pumps in the state as our repeated appeals for cut in the VAT went unheard so far," Singh said.
VAT in petrol and diesel in Jharkhand is 22 per cent and the drop in the sales are also causing huge revenue loss to the state government, he said.
The association would soon chalk out its future course of action if the demand was not fulfilled, Singh added.
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"We may have to intensify the agitation if the government does not look into our demand," Singh added.
President of the Hazaribag district Unit of the JPDA, Raj Kumar Jain, owners of petrol pumps may surrender their licenses to the government as they were incurring heavy losses and not in a position to even pay salaries to their staff.
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