Lower VAT on CNG, PNG to 5%

A few days after the state government lowered VAT on petrol and diesel, a consumer rights organisation has asked it to lower the rate on CNG and PNG too.

The Consumer Protection and Action Committee said that the 15 per cent VAT charged on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) is very high, and should be lowered to 5 per cent.

In a letter to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy CM Nitin Patel, CPAC chairman Mukesh Parikh said that the state government collected Rs1,241 crore as VAT on CNG and Rs 3,542 crore on PNG in the last three financial years.

"When the rate of VAT on LPG cylinder is 5 per cent, tax of 15 per cent on PNG, which is a substitute for LPG, is unfair, illogical and amounts to loot by the government," Parikh said in a statement, adding that the government should lower the rate of tax and provide relief to 16 lakh households and other consumers who are using PNG.

He also claimed that there is lack of transparency in sale of CNG and PNG in as far as sale of the two fuels is concerned.