High inflation coupled with skyrocketing food prices and the latest additional burden of rise in fuel prices including cooking gas is all set to make life miserable for the common man. As the price of petrol and diesel and non-subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were hiked across the country on Tuesday, petrol and diesel retailing prices were risen to ₹107.23 per litre and ₹94.32 per litre, respectively, in the state capital, while the price of LPG has been raised by ₹50 per cylinder to ₹959 for a 14.2-kg cylinder in Thiruvananthapuram. The 19 kg commercial cylinder will cost ₹ 2,018 in the capital.
The rise in the price of fuel and cooking gas prices, especially petrol and diesel will have a rippling effect on the price of essential commodities. Already, the price of certain essential items have been ruling high in the State for the past few months and the latest surge in fuel prices is likely to aggravate the situation. The price trends being prepared by the Department of Economics and Statistics, underscores the fact that the retail price of most of the essential commodities has been showing a steady increase in the State for the past one year.
Sudhakaran, K, a hotelier on the outskirts of the city, said “I have been running a small eatery here where I used to net a revenue of around ₹4,000-4,500 per day. But there is a rise of around ₹500 in my input costs in the recent days which literally affected the running of my shop as I employ one helper to run the show. Now to cope with the situation, I stopped using coconut oil and switched to palmoil among other things, as hiking the rate of food items in proportion to the rise in input costs is not feasible in the present milieu,” he said.
Rahul Raj, a private company staff, said “I had to face a tough situation on Tuesday as I tried to hire an auto from the auto stand near Mall of Travancore. Though it is mandatory for rickshaws plying on city roads to charge the passengers meter rates, the entire drivers in the stand were not ready to go by the rule saying the time of charging meter rates is over.”
Anjali S., a homemaker and a private company staff said “already we have dropped some luxuries after the pandemic, and now are forced to cut a few more items from our menu as part of tightening the purse strings. There is no rise in our income in proportion to the rise in the price of the essential items. Instead, we have lost a substantial portion of income as companies adopted cost cutting measures.”
Vinoj Abraham, Professor, Center for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram said, ”even as the price of essential commodities have been rising steadily in tune with fuel price rise, the rural wages or income have not been rising. This would make life miserable for the rural and urban folks alike. If there is a 10 per cent hike in fuel prices in a certain period, there would be around 6-7 per cent rise in prices of essential commodities due to the cascading effect. We fear that the current situation will lead to rural poverty in the state once again.”
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