BENGALURU: With the hike in excise duty and the union budge imposing road and infrastructure cess, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by more than Rs 2 in the city from Saturday onwards. While diesel prices have gone up by Rs 2.43, petrol is costlier by Rs 2.54.
A litre of petrol that used to be sold at Rs 72.83 is now priced Rs 75.37, while in case of diesel it has gone up from Rs 66.45 a litre to Rs 68.88.
This hike has not gone well with the Bengalureans. Sharath Kumar, a marketing executive, lamented that they were expecting a drop in fuel prices during this budget.
The cost of petrol and diesel has always been high under the BJP-led Modi regime and we felt that this time they might have taken note of this burden and take measures to prevent a hike. But all we got was a big disappointment, he added.
This budget has totally ignored the automobile and the transport sector. It can be due to lack of experience of the new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said Dr Xavier V.K., Professor and Head of Economics at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jain deemed-to-be University.
He said the hike in the fuel prices will have an impact on the automobile industry which is already facing a slowdown in sales and many of them have cut their output.
Dr Xavier further said that this hike in petrol and diesel prices will only burden the common man. “Both the private and government transport operators including buses, taxis and lorries have no option, but to hike their operating cost and pass on the burden on the users,” he explained.
