Hyderabad, June 26: It didn’t take long for the impact of the hike in prices of petroleum products to be felt on other sectors of the city’s economy. While citizens made a beeline to petrol pumps to fill up, service providers in other sectors immediately reached for their calculators. Barely hours after the price hike was announced, commercial transport operators in the city decided to hike their prices with immediate affect.
And in due course, vegetables prices, already skyrocketing due to the shortage of supplies, are certain to become dearer when higher transportation costs are passed on to the consumer. With most commodities having to be imported from the districts, grocer bills are likely to be inflated.
“The fuel price hike will encourage traders to hoard stocks,” R Santosh, a wholesale trader, said.
“The first casualty of the fuel price hike will be petrol bunk owners,” moaned Anand Kumar Naredi, owner of Full Moon Service Station. He said he would have to set apart an additional Rs 1 lakh for the purchase of fuel from today. Petrol pump owners said that contrary to the public perception, their profit margins will remain static despite the higher fuel prices. “In fact, sales are sure to come down,” said Naredi. “ So at the end of the year, we may end up with lower profits than last year.”
Autodrivers’ unions have already raised a demand for a hike in tariff. Andhra Pradesh Auto Drivers Samakhya (APADS) general secretary A Sathi Reddy and Auto Motors Welfare Association president M Dayanand said the minimum fare for the first 1.5 km must be raised from Rs 12 to Rs 20 and the per km tariff thereafter from Rs 7 to Rs 9. Auto drivers carrying school children are also set to demand more from parents.
The cab industry, which is already in the doldrums, is likely to be pushed deeper into the crisis. Some 10,000 cabs ply in the city, most of them catering to corporate companies. “As it is, the companies have not been clearing our bills. The hike in the diesel price is a serious blow to us. I expect the additional burden on each vehicle will be about Rs 1,000,” Greater Hyderabad Cab Operators Association president Sunil said.
All prepaid and metered taxis have demanded an immediate hike in tariff.
—Agencies