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BHUBANESWAR: For the first time in the country, diesel is being sold in Odisha at a price higher than that of petrol. On Sunday, diesel was being sold at Rs 80.78 per litre while petrol was being dispensed at Rs 80.65 per litre in the state capital. The price of diesel surpassed that of petrol for the first time here on Saturday.

Diesel was sold at Rs 80.97/litre and petrol at Rs 80.90/litre. Prices of both the fuels have relatively gone down in the last five days. Traditionally, retail price of diesel is lower across the country compared to petrol because of lower taxes, lower dealer commissions and lower base price.

In recent months, however, diesel base price, which is the price charged from dealers by oil companies without tax, has gone up by around Rs 5 because of growing global demand for the fuel. Sanjay Lath, secretary of the Utkal Petroleum Dealers’ Association said the hike in base price had absorbed the lower central excise and lower dealer commission for diesel.

“Diesel is now costlier than petrol since VAT on both the fuels is the same 26% in Odisha, unlike in many other states where it is lower on diesel,” he said. According to oil companies’ data, dealers now pay approximately Rs 43.49 (without tax) per litre of petrol and Rs 48.02 per litre of diesel. Excise duty charged by the Centre is Rs 17.80 per litre for petrol and Rs 13.83 per litre of diesel. While dealer commission is around Rs 3.50 per litre of petrol, it is about Rs 2.50 per litre of diesel.

The situation has fuelled a political blame game between the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD and opposition BJP. State finance minister Shashi Bhusan Behera said either the Centre had no control on oil companies or there was a nexus between them that gave rise to a situation like this. Countering Behera, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the situation had arisen because of the state’s very high taxes.

“The Odisha government has been misguided by a few officers. It should reduce VAT,” Pradhan said. State BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan pointed to the fact that the Naveen government did not reduce VAT on petrol and diesel when the Centre had reduced it. “Instead, it is shedding crocodile tears on the issue,” he said.

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