Fuel prices continue to soar: Petrol threatens to touch Rs 90-mark in Mumbai, diesel at Rs 78.42 per litre

Fuel prices yet again witnessed a fresh hike on Tuesday, with petrol and diesel being sold at Rs 82.16 and Rs 73.87 per litre respectively in the national capital. The surge in fuel prices has affected people in Mumbai the most, with petrol retailing at Rs 89.54 per litre and diesel at Rs 78.42 per litre. Maharashtra has the highest fuel cost among all the states as it charges the highest VAT on the petrol and diesel at a little over 39 percent, including the Rs 9 surcharge on petrol and Re 1 on diesel. [caption id=“attachment_2630632” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] While the state charges 25 percent value-added tax on petrol in Mumbai, Thane, and Navi Mumbai, it charges 26 percent in the rest of the state. For diesel, VAT is 21 percent in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, and 22 percent rest of the state, with a surcharge of Re 1 a litre across the state. Meanwhile, in as many a dozen cities in the state, petrol is already is selling between Rs 90 and 91 a liter, with the price in Parbhani at Rs 91.29 a litre, while diesel cost Rs 78.91 being the highest across the country, which dealers said is due to the fact that the city gets the fuel from the Solapur depot, which is about 275 km away. In cities like Parbhani, Nandurbar, Nanded, Latur, Jalgaon, Beed, Aurangabad and Ratnagiri among others, petrol has crossed the Rs 90-mark Sunday, according to media reports. It can be noted that fuel retail prices have been going up as the crude prices have been rising on one hand and the rupee has been plummeting on a daily basis. While a litre of petrol is being sold for Rs 83.91 and diesel for Rs 75.53 in Kolkata, the petrol and diesel prices in Chennai rose to Rs 85.31 and Rs 78, respectively. The constant rise in fuel prices is strengthening citizens’ demand for government’s intervention in the matter. The continuous hike in the fuel price is being witnessed from the past few days, causing much trouble for the common people. The Union government has also been facing flak in the past few weeks for not implementing stringent measures to curb prices. The Centre has maintained that external factors, including a rise in international crude oil prices, are influencing domestic fuel prices. With inputs from agencies