The fuel price hike that did not happen proved a bonanza for petrol outlets across the city which saw heavy rush since Sunday night. Some of them even went dry and put up “no stock” boards.
Motorists, expecting the prices of petrol and diesel to be hiked by another Rs. 4 by the Union Government on Monday, thronged the outlets to fill up their tanks. There were reports that the high-power cabinet committee comprising the Union Finance and Petroleum Ministers was meeting on Monday evening to finalise the revised prices of petro products, including LPG and kerosene.
However, by Monday evening when it became clear that the price hike had been deferred, it was back to business as usual.
Meanwhile, the proposed move of the Union Government has upset many.
Poornima Bhat, waiting to fill petrol in her two-wheeler, said it was getting increasingly tougher to budget the family expenses. If petrol and diesel prices go up by Rs. 4 and that of LPG by Rs. 50 as was being speculated, people from the poor and middle classes will have to struggle to make a living, she said.
