BJP demands reduction in sales tax on fuel in Punjab

Chandigarh, June 9 (UNI) The BJP today said it would launch a statewide agitation in Punjab if the government did not reduce the sales tax on diesel and petrol.

''The Punjab CM is silent on this crucial issue of fuel price hike and the common man in the state is suffering following the price hike and an additional sales tax,'' Punjab BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna and the party's national youth wing executive member Vineet Joshi said in a joint statement issued here.

They demanded that the state should lower the sales tax to such a level that market price of petrol and diesel remains the same.

The BJP leaders pointed out that Punjab had levies 27.5 per cent sales tax on petrol whereas the same in Chandigarh was 22 per cent.

The sales tax was also comparitively lower in the neighbouring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, they added.

UNI PS PM KN2031