Diesel@100: Commute & essentials hit hard in West Bengal

KOLKATA: The record spike in diesel prices had an almost immediate impact on the transport sector on Thursday with buses going off the road and app-cab surge prices touching new records. People were found stranded at bus stands for a long time. Many were spotted jostling for a foothold in buses. With the demand for cabs rising, the fare went through the roof.

Prices of essentials also stayed high on Thursday. Some retail markets faced a supply issues. Behala market on Thursday received no truck carrying potatoes. “A majority of goods vehicles have increased the fare abruptly. Naturally, vendors often found carrying costs unreasonable, leading to new supply issues in some markets,” said Kamal Dey, president of the West Bengal Vendors’ Association.

The cab fare, which was pinching anyway, is now burning a much bigger hole in the pockets of riders. The surge fare has almost become a constant throughout the day. The app-cab fare from Behala to Howrah, which hardly exceeds Rs 250 during peak hours, hovered around Rs 500-Rs 700. The app cab fare from Tollygunge to Sector V consistently exceeded Rs 800 till 1am. “The fare refused to drop below Rs 900 from Garia to Lake Town as I kept trying for over an hour. I finally abandoned the plan to go there. The fare for this stretch seldom exceeds Rs 500 on a normal day,” said Argha Dasgupta, a freelance commercial artist who was scheduled to meet his client on Thursday.
Metered taxis were fewer on the road and those plying demand hefty extra above the fare. “The diesel price is constantly moving north, our survival is at stake. It requires a lot of cajoling to make a commuter pay extra. We may have to leave this trade and do something else to survive,” said Anant Singh, a cab driver at Bhowanipore.
“From pulses, spices, edible oil, foodgrains to phenyl, toothpaste and shampoo, prices of all items are jumped abruptly almost every alternate month, putting households in a never-seen-before stress. It has been increasingly difficult to do the tight-rope walking with savings getting exhausted fast,” said Gautam Sarkar, private company executive, whose salary cut is yet to be compensated by his company.
At Hazra crossing, CITU-affiliated transport workers staged agitation against the hike of petrol and diesel prices. “The cost of transportation rose more than double of what it was in last December. We have lost clients as most of them have moved to railways. The consistently rising diesel prices put us in an existential crisis,” said Sajal Ghosh, general secretary of the Federation of West Bengal Truck Operators’ Associations.