The hike in price of petrol and high-speed diesel by the oil majors is to affect Kerala badly as travel will turn dearer for citizens and commodity prices will shoot up with the freight charges set to go up.
Petrol and high-speed diesel prices, which have been rising for the last six days, are now at the highest level since September 2018. In the last 17 days, the price of petrol has gone up by ₹2.35 per litre while high-speed diesel rate has increased by ₹3.15 per litre.
After Monday’s increase in the prices, a litre of petrol in the capital costs ₹85.72 and a litre of high-speed diesel, ₹79.65. The price has crossed ₹85 per litre in most cities such as Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Patna.
The price of petrol has crossed ₹90 per litre already in Jaipur and Delhi. In Mumbai, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneshwar, diesel rates crossed ₹80 per litre on Monday. Oil retailers say the current practice of increasing the price by 20 to 30 paise per litre that started after the recent Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections would continue in the coming days.
Pandemic blues
The sharp rise in fuel prices, triggered by an increase in global crude oil price, has come at a time when the country is slowly emerging from the pandemic-induced lockdown and aiming for economic recovery.
Being a consumer State, the fuel price increase, especially of high-speed diesel, will have a debilitating effect in Kerala. Already, the price of domestic LPG cylinder was increased by ₹50 last week and this will badly affect the monthly budget of hundreds of homes.
The price hike has come when the patronage of the public transport system was picking up and the petrol retail outlets turning live again with the entry of more private vehicles. Taxies, autorickshaws, and private bus operators will soon demand for an increase in the fares in view of the fuel price hike.
Lawerence Babu, general secretary, Kerala State Private Bus Operators Federation, said it was a big blow to the industry that was slowly recovering from the pandemic. “The move is to help the corporates and to wipe out the public transport sector,” he said.
The management of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation is shocked by the fuel price hike as it was trying to emerge from the red through a host of measures to generate more revenue. “We are affected. The fleet uses 1.75 lakh litres of high-speed diesel daily now and one can think of the additional burden we have to undertake,” a top official said.