Petrol pumps close to the Bengal-Assam border in the districts of Alipurduar and Cooch Behar hardly see any vehicle stopping by for refills nowadays.

Reason: vehicle owners buy fuel from pumps located in the neighbouring state of Assam, where both petrol and diesel cost around Rs 10 less than in Bengal.

“Following the steep surge in the price of petrol and diesel, only a few vehicles come to our pumps these days to buy fuel. People instead prefer to go to Assam as there are pumps located within 100 metres of the interstate border to save some money,” said Ramkrishna Pal, who owns a petrol pump in Barobisha of Alipurduar district near the interstate border.

In India, the price of petro fuels vary in the states according to the VAT charged by them.

On Thursday, in Alipurduar district, the price of a litre of petrol was Rs 116.58 while a litre of diesel cost Rs 101.18.

On the other hand, the price per litre was Rs 106.41 for petrol and Rs 92.10 for diesel, respectively, in the adjoining petrol pumps of Assam.

According to Pal, even a few months back, he used to sell around 7,000 litres of diesel and around 3,000 litres of petrol per day.

“But right now, I hardly sell 1,500 litre of diesel and 1,000 litres of petrol per day. If such a situation continues, I doubt how long I will be able to run the pump. I would earnestly urge the Bengal government to consider our situation and take some effective steps so that we can have a competitive fuel price with Assam,” the petrol pump owner added.

In Barobisha, local residents said, two pumps have already shut down over the past few months as customers reduced alarmingly.

In Alipurduar, a petrol pump owner earns Rs 2.17 and Rs 3.05 as commission by selling a litre of diesel and petrol, respectively.

“If the sales go down, our earnings are directly affected. On the other hand, we have to shell out more for fuel as the prices are soaring,” said a pump owner based in Baxirhat, the area in Cooch Behar district that shares borders with Assam.

He said that not only heavy vehicles such as buses and trucks which are bound for the Northeast, even light vehicles and two-wheelers head to Assam to buy fuel.

“A person saves Rs 100 by buying 10 litres of petrol from Assam. He hardly has to burn fuel worth Rs 20 on his commute to the neighbouring state. It is evident that trucks and buses make more savings if they buy fuel from Assam and not us. Unless our prices come down to levels of parity and there is a difference of say Rs 2 or Rs 3 between our prices and those in Assam, it is unlikely that this situation will change,” said the fuel pump owner.