A double whammy for households

Hyderabad: Petrol and diesel prices in the country are touching all-time highs, and Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Petrol, Natural Gas and Steel, recently blamed Saudi oil output cut for the surge in oil prices.

Though the government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre in a bid to ease inflationary pressure and boost consumer confidence, customers claim that the hike in fuel prices indirectly pushes up cost of other essential commodities and transportation charges, resulting in additional financial burden on consumers. "The entire nation was under lockdown since March 2020 and the restrictions were eased only after Diwali. Buses and flights did not operate, goods transport vehicles did not move from one State to another, and trains and other public transport came to a grinding halt for almost nine months during the lockdown.The amount of petrol saved by the Union and State governments is humongous.

Where did that petrol go? Why is the Union government now burdening the common man with increased prices?"lamented Ashwin Nallari Naidu, Chief Learning Officer, S9 Consulting. The price rise will seriously impact the way our goods are transported. The essential commodities are already on the boil and adding fuel to the fire, prices of vegetables, groceries and medicines will touch the sky, he said. The solution I feel is that we need to audit the transportation costs of all Central and State government staff on a monthly basis. Except for the President and PMO, all CMs' and their entourage can be reduced. We should drop all A to Z-grade security vehicles. The Municipal staff especially, GHMC is involved in large-scale fraud in petrol bills. All the Central and State governments staff should travel in public transport system,he added.

Another customer questions about the schemes launched by the RBI to manage the crisis of the country and points out that the common man's necessities should be of utmost priority for the government.

"In my opinion, ever since the BJP came to power, there is no disciplined plan or strategies to build economic stability. Further, to source revenues for the schemes, they announced an increasein the prices of common man's necessities. I haven't read any norm which would secure our financial stability by the members of RBI or banks. They are merging small banks into big ones and no one has an idea of where is the liquid cash going," says Dudapaka Naresh, president, MSA. Consumers believe that the government is taking this measure in order to boost the economy or increase GDP of the country, which was crashed by pandemic.

In general, other countries have less fuel prices but in India they come at a premium,owing to high taxes levied by the Central and State governments. Now, the government has to focus on the GDP growth, which declined due to the lockdown, Recently, IMF said that the GDP will grow 11.1 per cent in 2021. The government is giving subsidies on food items etc. However, there always is a question on why not on petrol.They focus on exports, manufacturing, among others but seldom focus on making fuels like petrol and diesel affordable to the common man. I think bringing down the fuel prices would shrink government revenues and hence the hikes," says P Kunal Anand, Student of MA (Political Science), at Osmania University.