Fuel hike: Goods traffic, passengers affected

New Delhi, June 11: The hike in petrol and diesel prices has affected both the passengers and goods traffic as well as essential commodities across the country, besides evoking angry reactions from transport operators to the common man who feel the increase is very steep and are unconvinced by the reasons advanced by the UPA government and the oil companies.

In Punjab, the state Private Bus Operators Union president Jagdish Shawney pointed out that while the diesel prices have been hiked, the state government has not bothered to hike the bus fares which has eroded the profits of the private bus operators. The Union has threatened to launch an agitation from July if the government did not increase the bus fares by 22 percent from the existing 46 paisa per km.

Besides, the BJP has given an ultimatum to the Punjab government that if it did not reduce sales tax on diesel and petrol, the party would launch a state-wide agitation.

State BJP president Avinash Rai Khanna and party's national youth wing executive member Vineet Joshi demanded that the state should bring down the sales tax to such a level that market price of petrol and diesel should remain the same.

The state unit of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) said the hike in diesel prices would further aggravate the problems of the farmers who were already facing a crisis. While the prices of diesel had been increased four or five times in the last two years, the increase in MSP of wheat and paddy was very marginal and added to this was the high input costs.

In Haryana, the hike has led to grouses among the people commuting in autorickshaws as well as the auto drivers. While the common people were claiming that they had to shell out more money, the auto drivers were complaining that the hike had burdened them more than the commuters.

''I have to pay up to Rs 60 or even Rs 70 for commuting from my house in Panchkula to my office in Chandigarh. Before the price hike, I used to pay Rs 40 or at the most Rs 50 for travelling the same distance,'' said Neena Joshi, a working woman who commutes daily from home to office and back home in autos.

In the Union Territory of Chandigarh, taxi drivers were suffering losses as the people were not yet ready to pay the higher fare.

Baljinder, another taxi driver, suggested that the government raise the fuel prices on an annual basis instead of announcing frequent hikes which hit them the most.

In Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Samajwadi Party is further instigating the public sentiments as it has announced a 'general strike' against the hike on June 13. The announcement came from the SP President and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav himself.

V P Singh-led Jan Morcha Gathbandhan is also organising a protest on the same day.

In Madhya Pradesh, there was marginal increase in the prices of foodgrains and other essential commodities due to immediate impact of the fuel price hike. While the state-owned Road Transport Corporation and private bus operators had not officially revised the passenger fares, private city bus operators in the state capital had surreptitiously increased the minimum fare to Rs 3 from Rs 2.

Three-wheeler tempos plying on certain city routes are yet to consider a revision in the fare, its union leader Usman said.

In the national capital, with driving private vehicles or riding autos and taxis becoming prohibitively costly, there was a marked increase in the number of commuters in the Delhi Metro trains, Delhi Metro Rail Corp sources said.

With CNG price hiked by Rs 1.20 per kg and its price reading 19.20 per kg, autorickshaws and taxis had jacked up their fares and made a killing, charging arbitrary amounts.

In Gujarat, Ahmedabad Truckers' Association president Hari Om Sharma said, ''Our costs will rise by at least ten per cent and we are not going to absorb them--they will have to be passed onto the consumers. It is going to impact the common man the most.'' Agreeing with him, Ms Trupti Shah, an Economics teacher said, ''We have already started feeling the pinch. Prices of vegetables and fruits are rising slowly.'' Ranjana Patel, a student of a Commerce college in Ahmedabad, said ''My fuel bills have gone up and I plan to pool with friends, to keep my expenses under limit.'' Rafeeq, an autorickshaw driver, too cribbed about the fuel price hike. ''Costs had prevented me from changing to a CNG vehicle.

Now we are plying by the old fares which seem frightfully low against the amount I spend on fuel. Whatever little I used to earn now goes on petrol.'' In Mumbai, following the fuel price hike, the prices of vegetables has also skyrocketed by around Rs 25-30, according to Navi Mumbai Vegetables Merchant Association President Navinbhai Maru.

He said vegetables costing Rs 10 per kg are being sold at Rs 40 per kg, he added.

Mr Maru further said that there aren't sufficient arrivals of vegetables from Vasai, Virar, Valsad, Palghar, Vapi, Pune, Nashik and other areas pushing the prices higher. Moreover, agrucultural lands have been sold off by farmers to builders by farmers at several places.

Meanwhile, three Congress-ruled states - Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Goa - yesterday decided to cut duty on the fuels, a day after Maharashtra announced its decision to do so.

The sales tax on petrol has been reduced from 34 to 33 per cent and on diesel from 23 to 22.25 per cent in Andhra Pradesh while the quantum in Delhi, Maharashtra and Goa will be decided by the state cabinets.

In Goa, Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane said the quantum of reduction which would be finalised tomorrow after holding talks with the Finance Secretary.

But hike, or no hike, the taxiwallas in Goa continued to collect two-way charges from the commuters on one pretext or the other, especially since there was no check from the government side. Successive governments had failed to introduce a metering system despite the public demand. ''Loot, thy name is Goa and vice versa,'' commented a regular passenger.

Adding to this, there was ''no organised consumer movement'' to resist these fleecing trends in this international tourist destination where tourists far outnumber the 13.4 lakh population.

In West Bengal, Bharat Chamber of Commerce and Petroleum Dealers Association have demanded that both the Centre and the state government reduce taxes on fuel, saying the hike would have a cascading effect on the prices of essential commodities and increase input costs in industries. However, giving a different note, Indian Chamber of Commerce Secretary General Nazib Arif observed that from economic point of view, the price hike was necessary to spare the oil comapanies from bearing burden.

In Tamil Nadu, the oil price hike has triggered a steep rise in the prices of vegetables and provisions as truck owners have increased the freight charges.

Prices of vegetables and fruits had increased substantially over the last few days at the Koyambedu vegetable wholesale market in Chennai, which caters to the needs of the city and its surrounding areas.

The number of trucks, bringing goods to the Koyambedu market from the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, had also reduced to around 450 from an approximate 550 in the wake of the diesel price hike, market sources said.

The freight charge for a truck service between Ahmed Nagar in Maharashtra and Chennai had been increased from Rs 22,000 to Rs 25,000, while the charge for bringing goods from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh had soared to Rs 12,000 from Rs 10,000, they said.

Except brinjal, the prices of all other vegetables had increased by an average of Rs two to Rs four per kg. Likewise, the prices of rice, dals and spices had also increased.

People from all walks of life felt that the fuel price hike was very steep.

''It is the sixth time the prices of petrol and diesel are hiked, since the UPA came to power at the centre in May 2004, but never in the past the hike was so steep,'' said, Mr Mani, a contract worker.

''Right from vegetables to autho-rickshaw to school Van charge, we have to shell out more,'' Ms Gomathi, a housewife says, expressing her displeasure.

Meanwhile, organised commercial vehicle operators in the city have decided to hike fares. Omnibus operators would charge Rs 20 extra per seat, said a private operator.

Call taxis as well as autorickshaws affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) had announced that they would participate in a State-wide protest and strike work on June 13.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi ruled out reduction in the sales tax on petrol and diesel as it was ''unviable''. ''If the ST is reduced, then we have to increase the bus fare in the state,'' he had explained.

In Karnataka, the state Goods Transporters Association has threatened to launch an agitation demanding a rollback of oil price hike.

Mr Ayub Khan, the Joint Secretary of the Association, described the hike as a 'death blow' to the transport industry and said the entire community of transporters in the country was frustrated with the frequent increase of oil prices.

The traffic police in Bangalore have received a number of complaints about autorickshaw and taxi drivers exploiting passengers.

Former minister and social activist S K Kantha said the hike would hurt the vulnerable sections in the society more, especially labourers working in the unorganised sector who suffered from lack of social security.

The Karnataka government is likely to take a decision to lessen the burden on the people by doing away with the incremental portion of the sales tax.

The state transport minister Mr Chaluvaraya Swamy had indicated that the state-run transport corporations had pleaded with the government to permit them to increase the bus fares. While the private transporters hiked the bus fares immediately after the fuel price hike.

UNI

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