SRINAGAR, May 24: While the unprecedented steep hike in petrol price on Thursday angered people in Kashmir, Chief Minister decided to laugh it off with a satire.
“Petrol Pump Attendant: Saab, Kitne ka daaloon? Customer: 2-4 Rupaye ka car ke upar spray kar de bhai. Aag lagani hai,” Omar posted on his micro blogging Twitter site.
But Abdullah is unlikely to get away by just a tweet amid growing resentment among the people over the hike.
“Time has come for us to finally burn our auto-rickshaws and start begging. A Rs.7.50 hike was never imagined. I owe the bank about a lakh of rupees besides my own investment in the vehicle. How would I now repay the loan and sustain my family?” asked Manzoor Ahmad, 29, an auto-rickshaw driver here.
The central government’s argument that the hike decision had been taken independently by the oil companies has no takers in the valley. “The international oil prices have come down. This is just a ploy to torture people,” said Mohsin Qadri, a student.
The rupee fell to a fresh record low on Thursday as a sharp increase in petrol prices failed to lift investor sentiment even as it fueled expectations New Delhi might soon take the more politically fraught step of raising diesel prices.
Country’s hefty subsidy bill for diesel, kerosene and LPG is a budget-buster that forces heavy government borrowing and weighs on investor sentiment. High global energy prices and a declining rupee, meanwhile, exacerbate the current account deficit in a country that imports 80 percent of its oil.
