India has the highest retail prices of petrol and diesel among South Asian nations as taxes account for half of the pump rates. (Representational Image)
The high price of fuel is putting additional financial burden on the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML), which has to shell out around Rs 2.5 lakh extra per day to buy its daily quota of diesel. The price of diesel has seen a sharp rise since January 2018 and currently, diesel prices in the city are around Rs 64.15 per litre.
Of the 2,124 buses in the PMPML’s fleet, 900 run on diesel. There are 130 midi buses that use diesel for operations. As many as 571 other buses owned by PMPML run on CNG, while 653 buses owned and operated by contractors also run on CNG.
The average consumption of diesel by PMPML buses is around 37,500 litres per day. “In January 2018, the price of diesel was Rs 60.07… and our daily diesel bill was around Rs 21.62 lakh. Gradually, the prices went up and now it costs Rs 64.16 per litre. Today, we are shelling out around Rs 24 lakh,” said a senior officer of the transport body.
“The new midi-buses also run on diesel… we are also going to get around 100 midi buses soon. We hope diesel prices go down so that we can reduce our expenditure on fuel,” said the official.