Petrol has gone to 75 rupees a litre and diesel is at 67 rupees a litre approximately in Udaipur city. This is even higher in places like Mumbai and Delhi. It is worth mentioning that consumers did not even realise the hike in prices of fuel. As per Lake City petrol pump dealers, the rate at which fuel is being sold now is the highest till date here.

As per records petrol and diesel graph shows a rise of 7 rupees in the last six months. If we see the graph for one year, there has been a hike of 15 rupees in petrol rates and 14 rupees in diesel rates. In August 2017 petrol was at almost 67 rupees/litre and diesel at 60 rupees/litre.

What is being observed is that consumers do not realise the hike as rates change every day and this change of 10 to 15 paisa per day does not affect them on daily basis since it seems negligible. As per Consumer Forum’s Chairman, this change in petrol and diesel rates on daily basis is proving to be profitable for government. Consumers do not even notice the daily rate chart at petrol pumps. They do not even get updates on monthly rate differences. Earlier when the prices were hiked on monthly or bi-monthly basis, the sudden difference especially increased rates used to agitate the consumers.  This way they used to oppose price hike in fuel and it used to be troublesome for government.

The other side of coin says that NDA government has tried to generate revenue by increasing petrol and diesel rates on daily basis. When the crude oil rates are low, how come government is still increasing fuel rates? When international rate for crude oil was 113 dollars per barrel earlier, petrol was priced at almost 68 rupees/litre and diesel was at almost 50 rupees/litre. Now that crude oil is priced at 70 dollars per barrel, fuel rates have gone higher instead of getting a reduction based on barrel prices.

Petrol and diesel attract taxes from both Central and State governments. State government can easily cut down the tax and give a relief of 3 to 4 rupees to the consumers. It has also been brought to notice that Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have petrol and diesel priced at 3 to 4 rupees less as compared to rates in Rajasthan. Consumers from Kotda, Dungarpur and Bichiwada get their vehicle tanks filled from Gujarat petrol pumps. Those from Choti Sadri, Badi Sadri, Nimbaheda and Pratapgarh use petrol pumps from Madhya Pradesh because of comparatively cheaper rates.