Petrol was sold at Re 1 to 500 buyers at one of the refilling stations in Maharashtra¡¯s Solapur city on Thursday to protest against the rise in fuel prices, PTI reported. The drive was organised by ¡°Dr Ambedkar Students and Youth Panthers¡± group to mark Dr B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary.
Every buyer was given only a litre of the fuel. Still, people thronged the petrol pump, leading to serpentine queues. Police were also deployed to control the crowd.
¡°Inflation has risen sharply,¡± said Mahesh Sarvagoda, the outfit¡¯s state unit leader. ¡°The price of petrol has reached Rs 120 per litre under the Narendra Modi government. So, to give relief to people and celebrate Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar¡¯s birth anniversary, we decided to give petrol at the rate of one rupee.¡±
Petrol and diesel costs have remained steady for the last nine days. Between March 22 and April 6, they had been increased by Rs 10 per litre.??
"I was happy to buy petrol at this price. I saved a bit of money amid inflation which is scaling new heights every day," said one buyer.
The price of petrol in Delhi stands high at Rs 105.41 per litre, and at a record Rs 120.51 a litre in Mumbai. Diesel prices also maintained the status quo at Rs 96.67 a litre in Delhi and at Rs 104.77 per litre in Mumbai.
In other parts of the country, petrol in Kolkata was being sold at Rs 115.12 per litre and diesel at Rs 99.83 per litre on Sunday. In Chennai also, one litre of petrol was retailing at the previous price of Rs 110.89 and diesel at Rs 100.94 per litre, according to a notification from state-owned oil marketing companies.
In Lucknow, the price of petrol was at Rs 105.25 a litre, while diesel was selling at Rs 96.83 per litre. In Bengaluru, the petrol price was at Rs 111.09 per litre and the diesel rate stood at Rs 94.79 per litre. In Gandhinagar, petrol was at Rs 105.29 per litre and diesel at Rs 99.64 per litre.