Fuel prices in Delhi saw a sharp hike today after a day’s break on Sunday. While petrol prices increased by 5p/litre, diesel saw an all-time high having been hiked up by 13 paise. The current price per litre is now ₹ 80.43 for Petrol and ₹80.53/litre for Diesel.
This comes as a huge blow to the market even as international oil prices have steadily dropped, with the crude benchmark being $40.21 per barrel. After the March 25 lockdown, the price of fuel has been hiked 22 times.
This decision has been faced with the strong opposition from all sides, including a trending hashtag on social media that said #SpeakUpAgainstFuelHike.
Notably, fuel retailers had frozen petrol and diesel rates since March 16. But, they started hiking this prices post-May 5 when the government had increased the value-added tax on fuel. Neither the petroleum ministry or the public sector undertakings that dealt with fuel-related services commented on this issue.