Pradeep Singh

Bhubaneswar: The constant rise in prices of petrol and diesel is burning a hole in consumer's pocket. In barely a month, petrol prices have increased by Rs 2.5 per litre and today it touched a record high of Rs 80 in Nabarangpur & Koraput districts of Odisha.

While in Bhubaneswar petrol price was Rs 77.14 per litre, diesel price was at Rs 74.91 per litre. Similarly, in Berhampur and Bolangir, petrol and diesel prices were at Rs 78 and Rs 75 per litre, respectively.

"We are suffering due to the regular rise. While fuel prices come down by a mere 10-20 paise, they shoot up by 80-90 paise per litre," rued an auto rickshaw driver in Rayagada, Iswar.

"The government should understand the plight of the consumers while increasing the prices and take measures to control it," said Anil Das, a Jeypore resident.

Sanjay Lath, president of petrol pump dealers' association, said, "Koraput always witnesses highest price as comparison to other districts of Odisha as the transportation cost of fuel is calculated from Paradip."

On the other hand, petrol price is highest in Mumbai at Rs 85 per litre while in New Delhi, it rose to Rs 78 per litre.

Meanwhile, the surge in the fuel prices has been attributed to the recent rise in crude oil and the fall of rupee against the dollar.

"I earnestly believe that this increase in oil prices (brent and crude oil) is really temporary," said DEA Secretary Subhash Garg.

Financial expert Dilip Satpathy said that if the international price of crude oil falls, rupee gets stronger and demand is reduced, prices can fall else the crisis will persist.

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