Protests in Karnataka against diesel price hike

Bangalore : Transport associations, chambers of commerce and industry and common people across Karnataka Friday protested against the sudden hike in diesel price.

“The steep hike in diesel price will have a cascading effect on essential commodities and fuel inflation. The hike will burden the people already reeling under high prices and severe drought in the state,” former prime minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) president H.D. Deve Gowda told reporters here.

Though the central government late Thursday increased the high speed diesel price by Rs.5 per litre, state levies such as 16.75 percent sales tax, 5 percent surcharge and 5 percent entry tax push the retail price by an additional Rs.1.13 per litre.

“Unlike in other states, diesel will cost Rs.51.19 per litre in Karnataka post-hike as against Rs.45.06 till Thursday, which is an increase of Rs.6.13 at the retail level,” state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) general manager Murali Srinivasan told IANS here.

About 30 million litres of diesel are sold across Karnataka per month, with Bangalore accounting for about 30 percent of the total consumption in the state.

“The hike is aimed at fiscal consolidation but will be an additional burden on the common man due to increase prices of essential commodities and cause more inflationary pressure as transportation cost will go up,” Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI) president K. Shiva Shanmugam said in a statement here.

Slamming the quantum of hike in one go after dilly-dallying over a year, Shanmugam said had the government calibrated the increase by Rs.1-2, the cascading effect would not have been as high it would be across the board.

“End-users at commercial and retail levels would have absorbed a marginal increase over the months and not felt the pinch as they would with this steep hike,” Shanmugam observed.

The hike will also impact manufacturing and processing sectors as it would add to the operating cost of power generators in the energy-starved state like Karnataka.

“Even farmers using diesel generators or tractors will also be affected with rising input cost. People using diesel vehicles will also be affected by the untimely hike,” Shanmugam noted.

Protesting the hike, the Federation of Karnataka State Lorry Owners & Agents Association has threatened to launch an indefinite strike from Sep 19 if the hike was not rolled back.

“Common man will be the worst affected as we will be forced to pass on the burden by increasing freight charges on goods transported on trucks,” federation president G.R. Shanmugam said.

Urging the government to roll back the price hike, the federation president said with all-round increase in operational cost due to inflation and wages, the lorry owners would not be able to absorb the additional burden on transporting goods.