Did you know that people who live or work in Electronic City often go to Hosur to fill petrol in their cars and two wheelers? They have little choice as Bengaluru is the worst affected by the frequent hike in petrol prices and has seen its cost rise by Rs 16.37 a litre in the last one year alone. Since January 2011 the price of petrol has been hiked six times and marginally reduced only once with the Union government pleading it has little choice in the matter owing to the rising global price of crude oil. But as the states get almost 40 paise for every rupee paid for petrol in the form of taxes levied , some governments have taken the initiative to cushion the price hike by waiving their sales tax.
On Thursday the Uttarakhand and Kerala governments waived the sales tax on petrol, immediately slashing its price by Rs 1.87 a litre and Rs 1.63 a litre respectively, much to the delight of their people, who were not looking forward to paying so much for petrol with the latest hike announced by the Centre.
Showing similar concern fo the consumer, Goa too had waived its taxes on petrol earlier this year and Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have done the same in the past to bail out their people from a difficult situation, but not Karnataka, although petrol costs as much as Rs 81.76 a litre in Bengaluru, saddling the people here with the highest bill for it in the country. The state has so far not relented although it levies one of the highest taxes on petrol and doesn't seem to be in the mood to lower them in future too, leaving consumers with no buffer against the price hikes that have become routine now.
Housewives in anguish
Like many other housewives, Rashmi Bhattacharya, drops her daughter to school, goes to the market to buy groceries and does all the little jobs that come with running a home. This mother of a three-year-old is now worried about what it will cost to keep the wheels of her little world turning as the price of petrol seems to be hurtling out of control. Her husband, Romit Bhattacharya, a business development professional, is the sole bread winner of the family and she has to work out the monthly budget which she is afraid will now have to be much bigger.
“Compared to an office-goer, I use my two-wheeler more often in a day as I go shopping for fruits and vegetables, for buying confectionery, dropping my daughter to school and so on. Not only will I have to pay more for the petrol I use, but I must now be prepared to shell out more for the education of my daughter, transportation costs and the daily commodities we use as they too will cost more as a result of the increase in petrol price. In fact school transportation has become unaffordable because of the requent hikes in fuel price. If we choose school transport, we will have to part with around Rs 25,000 a year,” she says.
Besides the old two-wheeler that Rashmi uses, the family owns another two wheeler and a car and spends close to Rs 5,000 a month on petrol already." With this petrol hike, we will have to spend Rs 2,000 more every month, bringing our annual petrol expenses to about Rs 84,000. The government needs to roll back the petrol price as soon as possible,” Rashmi pleads.