Fuel prices continue to rise, with prices of petrol and diesel on Tuesday further hiked by 80 paise and 70 paise per litre respectively, becoming dearer by almost Rs 5 a litre after seven revisions in rates in eight days.For the seventh time in over a week, the prices of petrol and diesel on Tuesday witnessed a hike on Tuesday, with petrol now costing over Rs 100 a litre in the national capital.With a hike of 80 paise in petrol and 70 paise in diesel today, the total increase in fuel price is nearly Rs 5 after a week of revision.In Delhi, petrol will cost Rs 100.21 per litre today, while diesel would cost Rs 91.47 per litre.As for Mumbai, with an increase of 85 paise and 75 paise in petrol and diesel prices, they now cost Rs 115.04 and Rs 99.25 per litre, respectively.In Chennai, the petrol price is Rs 105.94, increased by 76 paise, and diesel is Rs 96, increased by 67 paise. While in Kolkata, the price of petrol is Rs 109.68, increased by 83 paise, and diesel is Rs 94.62, increased by 70 paise.There had been a pause in the revision of fuel prices since November 4 last year, which was broken on March 22 following the crude oil going upwards in the wake of the Russian military operations in Ukraine.Prices are set to be raised further, given the sharp jump in crude oil prices in the international markets. It will have a cascading impact on the prices of other items and lead to inflationary pressure and hurt growth. It will have a cascading effect on the prices of other items.Meanwhile, Congress has decided to launch a nationwide programme, ‘Mehngai Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’ against price rises, under which it will organise rallies and marches across the country from March 31 to April 7.The Rajya Sabha also saw adjournments on Monday as the opposition created a ruckus over rising prices of petroleum products as well as the general strike by the trade union in India.Notably, on November 3 last year, the Centre had cut excise duty by Rs 5 per litre on petrol and Rs 10 per litre on diesel to bring down the retail prices across the country.Following this, several state governments had reduced Value-Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel to provide relief to people.
