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As price of petrol nears Rs100/litre, middle-class Punekars bear burden of budgets going awry
Residents complain of family budgets going awry and vehicles being parked,because of the spike in prices of petrol and diesel
PUNE Hiked by 0.27 paise on Thursday, the price of a litre of petrol inched closer to the ₹100-mark, hitting ₹99.62 in Pune, according to the price notifications of state-owned fuel retailers.
Diesel crossed the ₹90 mark and was at ₹90.15 per litre in the city on Thursday. This is the 14th time fuel prices have risen this month.
Fuel prices started to rise from May 4, when petrol was at ₹96.62 per litre and diesel was at ₹86.32 per litre. The petrol price crossed ₹100/litre in Mumbai on Thursday.
Currently, due to Covid curbs, daily traffic is comparatively much less, but those who do not have the option to work from home and need to step out for their livelihoods are facing soaring fuel prices.
Chetan Kharote, who used to drive for Ola and Uber in the city, has stopped running his car. Kharote said that with soaring fuel prices and reducing profit margins, it is more affordable for him to not drive in the current situation.
“I have been in this business since 2014 and bought my own diesel car in 2018. At that time, the diesel price was in the range of ₹60 per litre. Now I have stopped business. Because of curbs there are fewer passengers and the diesel price has been soaring, so the profit margin has reduced. It is better to keep the car standing rather than put in my own money to operate. It’s a tricky situation,” said Kharote.
“I bought my car for ₹6.5 lakh on a loan. I still need to pay that money back. I am working part-time driving other people’s vehicles if they need to go somewhere, charging only for driving. Currently it is not viable for me to take my own car. We cannot even increase the fares,” he added.
Vivek Kondhalkar, a civil engineer with a private construction firm in the city, has to visit construction sites.
“I have to travel 30-40 km per day to visit the sites. Even if we are not working we have to use the vehicle for personal work. A substantial amount of my salary is going to fill fuel. From ₹60 per litre, petrol now has reached ₹100. If fuel prices increase, it impacts everything, from the price of vegetables and milk to groceries. It is an increasing burden,” said Kondhalkar, who lives in Ambegaon Budruk.
Husaina Sheikh, who works as a helper in a private hospital in Hadapsar, is finding it difficult to manage her monthly expenses. “I am the sole earning member in my family. Because of the lockdown my husband and sons are unemployed right now. The hospital I work in is five 5 kilometers away from my home. My son drops me on his bike. I earn Rs7,000 per month. How should we manage expenses when the cost of petrol is increasing. If I fill ₹100 worth of petrol, it lasts hardly for two days,” said Sheikh
