A fear is that the prices of all essential commodities and vegetables, as also of construction and other materials will go up due to a resultant rise in transportation costs.
Vijayawada: The rise in price of petrol by Rs 3.29 and diesel by Rs 3.14 per litre is hitting one and all. Families incur additional expenses by way of a rise in the prices across the spectrum in recent weeks.
Now, petrol costs Rs 112.50 against the previous price of Rs 109.74 per litre and diesel Rs100.22 against the previous Rs 97.07 per litre. The prices vary slightly from place to place and these are based on supply of fuels from different oil marketing companies.
A fear is that the prices of all essential commodities and vegetables, as also of construction and other materials will go up due to a resultant rise in transportation costs. Food aggregators are bound to raise delivery charges.
Car hiring charges and charges for transportation of goods from place to place are also set for a rise.
Motorists say they are already facing a shortage of fuels at bunks in some parts of the state.
Many motorists criticised the central government as it had promised to avoid a hike in fuel prices two months ago. “It looks like this is just a start. The worse would follow,” a motorist said with a sigh of concern.
AP’s chamber of commerce and industry federation president P Bhaskar said, “Obviously, the central government is in a precarious situation and trying hard to manage things. The recent hike in commercial LPG cost affected the hospitality sector badly. Diesel is essential for the transport sector and a hike in its price will have a major adverse impact. We expect the jacked up prices to be reversed once normalcy is restored.”
Meanwhile, the transport sector is bearing the brunt. It uses diesel more. Transporters say they have to incur an additional burden of `10,000 per month for transporting goods for long distances. They also allege short supply of fuels by OMCs in several states. Travel time goes up by four to five days from two days, as a result.
Though transporters welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to promote the concept of ‘Work From Home’, they raised their apprehensions that this might result in a fall in demand for taxis and buses for hire. This would lead to transporters having more difficulty to pay their vehicle EMIs.
AP lorry owners association general secretary Eeswara Rao said, “The transport sector will be badly hit due to the raise in price of diesel and this will have a ripple effect.”
