Fuel prices in India are giving a hard time to the commoners since petrol surpassed a three-digit price tag per litre and diesel crossed the average price too.
A drastic increase was seen in their rates as the crude oil prices in the international market fluctuated.
As of today, in Delhi NCR, petrol prices were steady at ₹101.84 per litre and diesel rates were unchanged at ₹89.87 per litre since the first hike. However, in India’s financial capital Mumbai, petrol stood at ₹107.83 per litre and diesel at ₹97.45 per litre.
According to data by Indian Oil Corporation, things in Maharashtra’s second capital Nagpur are pretty much the same since the last 19 days. Today, a Nagpurian would pay ₹107.58 per litre for petrol and ₹95.67 per litre for diesel.
Among the four metro cities in India- Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, fuel prices are the highest in Mumbai. Result of which, taxi and auto drivers in the state have increased fares.
Nation Next spoke to a few citizens of Nagpur, who candidly shared their experience on petrol price hikes.
Priyanka Sharma, who is a 22-year-old soft skills coach in Nagpur, said, Its agitating. Because a hike every time changes everything about the way we plan our finances. It’s no more about affordability; its beyond that. We are still not over the prolonged effects of pandemic and this further adds to the financial and lifestyle imbalance.
As far as I remember, this is for the second time that the petrol prices have crossed the 100-litre-mark. Despite being a full-time professional, I find the hike so high, wonder how unemployed or underprivileged are coping, said Madhura Borode, a 25-year-old overseas education instructor.
Nagpur businessman Rahul Gupta stated that in coming few weeks, India should see a decline in petrol prices. The 32-year-old said that government should think of other ways of collecting revenues than petrol.
The cost of transportation has increased due to hike in diesel and petrol prices. Commoners, as well as businesses, are getting affected due to fuel price hikes, he added.
On the contrary, professional Soniya Pohare Patil from the city said that the government ?doesn’t care enough.
The 37-year-old teacher strongly believed that even ?bhakts (common name given to PM Modi’s supporters) would have objection on fuel price hike.
We do not feel that the government (at the Centre) cares. They don’t want to know what the citizens want. They have their set targets of revenue to achieve and fuel taxes are one solid way to do so. I don’t think the fuel prices would go down in coming few weeks. The way our economy is going, fuel tax is the only definite amount of revenue that the government can collect, said Soniya.
IT professional Suchitra Iyer believed that if Centre and state removed the extra taxes on petrol, the price would decline. Citizens are paying enough taxes already. Government’s bank balance won’t dry if they go easy on petrol taxes, the 23-year-old opined.