Petrol crosses Rs 104/l mark in Kolkata

Kolkata: The City of Joy on Friday experienced a hike in petrol price with the fuel crossing Rs 104 per litre mark just ahead of the Durga Puja festival, burning a hole in the pockets of the middle-class, coupled with skyrocketing prices of essential goods.

The diesel price has also for the first time crossed Rs 95 mark in Kolkata. The petrol and diesel prices in Kolkata stand at Rs 104.23 per litre and Rs 95.23 per litre respectively on Friday.

The price of petrol is the second-highest in Kolkata among all the four other metropolitan cities with its price in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai being Rs 109.54 per litre, Rs 103.54 per litre and Rs 101.01 per litre respectively. Out of the four metropolitan cities, Kolkata stands in the third position in terms of diesel price as it is Rs 99.92 per litre, Rs 96.60 per litre and Rs 92.12 per litre in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai respectively. The diesel price witnessed a hike of 35 paise on Friday from Thursday's Rs 94.88 per litre mark.

The petrol price in Kolkata has increased by 29 paise every day since October 5. It did not increase on October 4 — a day after the petrol price crossed Rs 104 per litre mark in the city. Prior to that, the petrol prices had increased on four consecutive days by 30 paise till October 3.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had repeatedly protested against the abnormal hike in fuel prices as it has led to an increase in the prices of essential commodities.

The prices of mustard oil, sunflower oil, vegetables, including pointed gourds, brinjals, onions and mushrooms have skyrocketed.

Monojit Das, a regular at Jadu Babu Bazar, said: "The situation is going out of control. We are forced to reduce the quantity of vegetables that we usually need to buy. The government should take necessary steps to check the abnormal hike in fuel prices."