Act on fuel price hike
It has been more than four months now that the fuel prices are witnessing an increase without any check mechanism put in place. In Srinagar the cost of petrol has crossed 94 Rupees and if the rise continues like this the fuel price may cross the Rs 100 barrier in the coming week.
Fuel prices have been showing no signs of decline. This despite the international crude oil prices remaining almost the same during the past many months now. In 2013 crude oil prices were around 61 dollars and today the price is around 66.06 dollars. However, patrol was selling as Rs 46 at that time and diesel was priced at around 38 Rupees.
Though fuel prices, which vary from state to state depending on local sales tax or VAT, are now at a record high in the country, prompting cries for a cut in excise duty to ease the burden on consumers.
Besides, fuel prices the cost of LPG gas has also been recording a steep increase with more than 100 Rs jump recorded in the past two weeks alone. At present a 14.5 kg domestic LPG gas cylinder costs 821 Rs in Srinagar with a subsidy component of Rs 94.
What is concerning is that the central government has responded by blaming the price hike on curtailed oil output by Saudi Arabia. The country has pledged additional voluntary output cuts of 1 million barrels per day in February and March, which has led to price climbing since the pandemic broke out.
State-owned fuel retailers — Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) — had on January 6, resumed daily price revision after nearly a month-long hiatus. Since then the prices have been recording an increase every alternate day with the end users facing the heat.
Since Jan 6 rates have gone up with not a single decline being recorded. Though the price rise was witnessed after international oil prices firmed up in hopes of demand returning from the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in different countries, including India.
Despite the business and trade activities also witnessing some improvement and fuel consumption coming to its normal in almost all the states there are no indications of a duty cut so far. Even Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has remained non-committal on tax cuts.
The fuel prices are rising too fast and even though the economy is officially in recession, the fresh hike means additional burden for a common man. And as the economy is showing little signs of recovery, the earnings for the common man have dried up tremendously and the price rise is only adding to his woes.
The common man is feeling the burden of fuel price hike in many ways. Today the government agreed in principle to hike the passenger fares by 19 percent which will again have an impact on the common man’s monthly budget.
While the government is playing a deaf and silent role over the issue the common man has to bear the brunt. While the centre as well as states need to announce some tax cuts, keeping mum over the issue is no option at all.
KV Network
