New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS): Petrol dealers in Delhi Wednesday sought the centre's intervention in bringing the value added tax (VAT) charged by the state on diesel at par with that of Haryana and Punjab.

The dealers are not satisfied with the Delhi government's decision last month to roll back the VAT on diesel to 12.5 percent from 20 percent, hiked in the budget. The dealers say they continue to suffer losses despite the roll-back.

A delegation of the dealers submitted a memorandum to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee bringing to his notice the problems faced by them and urged him to find a way out of the problem.

"Haryana and Punjab have kept the VAT on diesel very low (8.8 percent), which attracted transporters and industrial customers of northern India. Delhi, which has 80 percent of its boundary with Haryana, has lost over half of its diesel sale and revenue to the state due to high VAT rates," the dealers said in the memorandum.

Nishit Goel, vice president of the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association, said states have been compensated by the centre for losses incurred while implementing VAT. "The petrol pump owners of Delhi, which are on the verge of closure after losing more than 70 percent of their sales to Haryana have nobody to compensate."