Petrol pump owners across West Bengal Wednesday began a two-day strike demanding reduction in sales tax, badly affecting the private bus service in the state.

Around 2,000 petrol pumps were closed from midnight Tuesday, according to the West Bengal Petroleum Dealers' Association (WBPDA), which gave the call for the 48-hour 'no purchase, no sale' agitation.

They are demanding reduction of the 17 percent sales tax on petrol and 25 per cent on diesel, which makes fuel in West Bengal most expensive compared to the neighbouring states encouraging people to make purchases from outlets on the borders.

The outlets owned by the public sector oil companies like Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), however, remained open.

Private bus services across the state suffered on account of the strike.

Most car owners and taxi operators had topped up their fuel tanks before midnight in view of the strike.

The WBPDA general secretary Joydeb Sarkar said petrol and diesel in West Bengal was dearer by Rs. two as compared to Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam and Bihar.

"Consumers therefore prefer to tank up from the bordering states. The West Bengal dealers thus lose about 20 per cent of their overall sales because of the price differences," he said.

The WBPDA is also opposing the marketing discipline guideline 2005, introduced in August, saying the new rules are draconian, biased and they empower the oil companies to cancel licence of the dealers without proper investigation into the anomalies.