Around this time a year ago, Government of India announced to the citizens of this country that they no longer would be regulating the fuel prices. This bold and historical move was met with hue and cries from the opposition party who claimed that this would increase the inflation rate making the life of common man miserable. Despite all the protest, the government went ahead with the decision and thus the oil companies where given the right to decide their own pricing.
State run petrol companies which supply 90% of the fuel that is being consumed in India have thus so far raised the prices of petrol 7 times in the last one year with the blessings of the government. Every time the prices were raised, we the common citizen got to witness the same drama played by both opposition and ruling party. Every time there was hike, opposition parties calls for Hartals and strikes which were considered powerful form of protest,which had little or no effect on the government but did/do create lots of inconvenience to AAM JANATA.
Talking of these aam janata, are they really being affected by the price hike?
If you go to any petrol bunk on the day when the price hike is announced you would find huge line of smart commoners awaiting their turn to fill up as much fuel as possible with the intention of saving few precious pennies from their earning. Looking at this scene you would feel pity, but soon this pity would turn into anger and helplessness, as you could find these same people which include the state run transport buses wasting fuel at transport signal. What happened to their smartness? Today, vehicle are technically so advanced that you just have to press a button to start the engine, despite this I find the people lazy to turn their engine off at signals where they are brought to stand still for more than 120 seconds.
Despite various efforts taken by NGO’s, government agencies, petroleum companies to educate the public to act smart and save the fuel, their reckless attitude continues.
I have got mails which says petrol are priced cheap in foreign countries and blaming our government on imposing on us this heavy price but have we thought about how much we our self are to be blamed ?
I am not here to give you the gyan on how to reduce the consumption of petrol but here to say that ,there are persons like me who are bothered by this frequent price rise and its effect on my bank balance.I don’t wish to contribute my earnings for you to waste……
