The Central government will hike the price of petrol by 30 paise and diesel by 18 paise in a bid to increase the dealers’ commission. They will now get a commission of Rs 1.79 from the earlier Rs 1.49 for a litre of petrol and Rs 1.09 for a litre of diesel from the earlier 91 paise.
However, the dealers are still unhappy as this hike is still short of their demand of 67 paise hike in commission for petrol and 42 paise for diesel. They have specified these two prices considering the rising costs of operating a petrol pump.
"A few of our operating costs like running pumps on generators, free services (like air and water) and increase in evaporation, seem to have not been taken into account while calculating the proposed commission," said Ajay Bansal, Federation of All India Petroleum Traders General Secretary.
This hike is inevitable as petrol pump owners have been having a hard time maintaining profitability due to rising input costs and volatile oil prices. Without the hike, many smaller bunks will be forced to shut down making the common man travel longer distances to tank up their vehicles.
According to reports, the hike will come into effect in the next few days depending on the when the petroleum ministry issues a formal notice to the oil companies.
