Bhubaneswar: Consumers in the State are worried a lot due to yesterday’s hike in prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 3.13 per litre and Rs 2.71 a litre respectively.
Prices of all essential commodities will go up as transportation cost will obviously rise after the hike. This will pinch the pockets of middle class and economically-weaker sections of the society, said Shudhansu Das, a native of Bhubaneswar.
This steep increase will wipe out the gains made during the reduction of the prices in August last year, said another consumer Bikash Swain from Cuttack.
After the hike, petrol price in Bhubaneswar has gone up to Rs 68.24 a litre as against Rs 65.11 earlier while diesel now costs Rs 57.42 a litre as against Rs 54.71 previously.
New rates of petrol/diesel in other cities of the State are as follows: Cuttack – 68.13/57.31; Berhampur – 67.90/57.17; Balasore – 67.85/57.10; Sambalpur – 68.05/57.36; Rourkela – 68.96/58.27; Bolangir – 68.72/58.44 and Puri – 68.32/57.62.
The recent hike is the second straight steep increase in rates this month as the prices were raised by Rs 3.96 and Rs 2.37 a litre respectively on May 1.
Union Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the hike in petrol and diesel prices necessitated due to the cascading effect of rise in international crude oil prices in past few weeks. Besides, fall in value of rupee as against dollar has also yielded the price hike, he added.