Petrol and diesel prices in Hyderabad have become dearer by 19 paise and 26 paise respectively per litre.
This follows public sector oil marketing companies changing the fuel prices across the country and with that bringing to an end a nearly three-week long breather motorists enjoyed from the daily price revision routine.
According to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), a litre of petrol in Hyderabad now costs ₹79.23 (₹79.04). A similar quantity of diesel is being dispensed at ₹71.89 (₹71.63). The new prices came into force at 6 a.m. on Monday. Pump prices of the companies vary by a few paise.
The prices of the two of the most widely consumed fuels were last revised on April 24 by the oil companies. Though daily revision of fuel prices is something that they have been doing for almost a year now, petrol and diesel prices were not changed ostensibly in view of the elections to the Karnataka Assembly. The decision of the oil companies came a day after the polling got over on May 12 in the State.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had in April, prior to the oil companies holding on the prices, refuted reports of the firms been asked to absorb price hikes. He had told a news agency then that the PSU oil marketing companies were free to fix prices of auto fuels.
Subsequently, IOC had also tweeted what its Chairman Sanjiv Singh had told a TV channel: “We have decided to temporarily moderate retail prices by not passing on the required increase as we believe the current international oil product prices are not supported by fundamentals. So we have decided to wait for a while.”
Monday’s increase is bound to bring back worries for motorists,especially of what could be a phase of consecutive fuel price hikes ahead as both international crude as well as product prices are firming. The upward trend in the prices were fuelled by the USpresident announcing that his country would pull out of Iran nuclear deal.
