BHOPAL: After breaching Rs 100 a litre mark in Anuppur 15 days ago, diesel is now inching towards the century mark in Bhopal and many other cities of Madhya Pradesh. In the state capital, it was retailed at Rs 98.56 per litre on Tuesday.
As diesel prices shoot up, they have a cascading effect on other commodities too, leading to inflation. In the last two years, the cost of diesel has skyrocketed from Rs 69.57 a litre to Rs 98.56, this increase of almost Rs 30 per litre is burning a hole in the pockets of transporters, bus operators and common man.
The prices have been surging almost on a daily basis since June 15, 2017 when the dynamic pricing was introduced. On Tuesday, petrol was retailed at Rs 109.53 per litre in Bhopal, while people still wait for some relief in vain.
Now that there is hardly any difference between diesel and petrol prices, the urban buyers feel ‘cheated’ having purchased diesel cars and SUVs to cut fuel costs. On the other hand, farmers, transporters and bus operators feel “harassed” in the face of this ‘unbearable burden.’
Rahul Raj, vice president of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, said: “ The cost of cultivation is growing every day. When we harvested the summer moong, diesel rates were touching a new high. When the farmers were sowing soybean, corn and paddy, there were new high rates of diesel and when we again harvest these crops, the rates will be even higher. We also need diesel for running pumps for irrigation.”
The state government has its reasons for not paying heed to demand for reducing the taxes slapped on diesel and petrol. The state collects Rs 27.75 on every litre of petrol sold as taxes and this includes a cess of Rs 4.50, while it collects about Rs 18.75 per litre in tax on diesel, including Rs 3 as cess. The quantum of revenue generated through uel can be understood from the fact that after a hike of just Re 1 on the fuel as cess to compensate for the revenue loss during corona crisis in 2020- the government had aimed to collect an estimated Rs 570 crore annually -Rs 200 crore from petrol and Rs 370 crore from diesel.
