Fuel price hike uncalled for, say city residents

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 21

Fuel prices have touched new heights with petrol selling at Rs 81.65 and diesel at Rs 67.57 per litre.

City residents on Monday flayed the Union Government for not bringing fuel prices under control.

They demanded that the government should reduce the prices as it had triggered a wave of resentment among the masses.

Gian Chand Bansal, a Model Town resident, said the government had no mercy for the poor. “I have other expenses to bear and the fuel price hike is another burden. The people of the country are sandwiched between corruption and inflation. The government is least bothered about the common man.”

Another resident Gurmeet Singh said, “I think the government should reduce taxes as the consumers are burdened. Increasing prices of sensitive petroleum products may lead to inflation, which would directly affect the poor and middle class hard.”

Prof NK Gosain, a city resident, said, “It is sad to see that immediately after the Karnataka elections, the prices of fuel were hiked. This shows that politicians are befooling people and have no concern for them. During elections, they make lofty promises to lure them and after winning, they hardly care about them.”

Ravi Kumar, an ice-cream seller, who has to buy fuel every day to run his business, said the price hike was not easy to cope with.

“Some months ago, my daily expenditure on fuel was Rs 100 and now it has increased to Rs 150. It is a big deal for people like us,” he said.

The hike is likely to affect prices of essential commodities. The average household budget now has to accommodate increased prices of vegetables, grocery and other things.

Farmers have also condemned the hike as it would further escalate the input costs of agriculture that have already become unbearable for them.

The hike is hurting small scale units too, especially those that use petroleum by-products.

“We cannot increase the price of our products as competition is high,” said an entrepreneur in the industrial area.