Bhopal: Hike in petrol and diesel prices fueled the intense protest all over MP on Monday. Youth Congress took out a protest rally form Shivaji Nagar to PCC office as mark of protest against the price hike in Bhopal. Protestors demanded that the hike be rolled back immediately as it will have an adverse impact on prices of essential commodities.
Petrol currently costs Rs83.64 per litre while diesel costs Rs73.21 per litre. Though parliamentary affairs minister Narottam Mishra said, “Central as well as state government will work to curb the prices of petrol and diesel in the state.”
However little respite is expected to come as Finance Minister Jayant Mallaya said, “Prices of petrol and diesel have increased but VAT will not be reduced.” While BJP state president Rakesh Singh said, “For the last so many months, it was stationary. It is issue is directly concerned with oil companies and central government. It is not in our hands.”
But Ajay Singh, state president of Petrol pumps dealers association, expressing his anguish over the issue said, “It is like magical system of pricing. In fact, It is not justified to call it dynamic fuel pricing as if it is dynamic, it should be fluctuating but instead of fluctuating, it consistently increasing so it is magic pricing system in the country for fuel.”
With this daily price revision, India has joined the band of select nations like the US and Australia where petrol rates are changed daily. Three state-owned oil marketing companies: Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation- rolled-out the daily dynamic pricing mechanism for petrol and diesel.
