KHARAR, Nov 24: Though the Punjab government has issued a stern warning against the collection of 1 per cent infrastructure cess, levied on 200 consumer items including petrol through an ordinance, yet some traders of this area have been collecting the same since November 11.On November 17, the Punjab government had deferred the implementation of the controversial infrastructure cess which had come into operation with effect from November 11.Lachman Dass, a resident of Kharar, told ENS that a petrol pump near the local bus stand chowk has been charging 1 per cent cess on petrol. He said petrol was being sold at Rs 23.55 per litre before November 11, but since then the rate has been hiked to Rs 23.77 per litre. This, he said, was a violation of government orders.He handed over a cash memo of the petrol pump in which 2.1 litre petrol has been sold for Rs 49.91 on November 24 and the rate of petrol per litre has been mentioned as Rs 23.77. Dass has demanded a high-level probe into the matter and has stressed the need to immediately check the collection of cess.The manager of the petrol station, Nand Lal, when contacted, confirmed the collection of 1 per cent cess on the sale of petrol and said that the sale depot of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) situated at Sangrur was charging 1 per cent cess from them, following which they were forced to collect the same from the consumers. He also produced a copy of the bill issued to his station by the Sangrur depot of the HPCL on November 23 in which 1 per cent cess has been charged.Amritsar: J P Khanna, president Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association, today said that petroleum dealers of Punjab had not levied one per cent cess on petroleum products and they did not have any role in levying or collecting any charge. He was commenting on a news item which appeared in some daily newspapers that petrol pump dealers were charging the cess.He said all petroleum products were tax paid at source in Punjab and dealers have nothing to do either to levy or collect any charge.
