The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Sunday raised petroleum products'' prices, with a substantial hike of Rs6.10 per litre in petrol price. According to a notification issued by Ogra here on late Sunday night, petrol price has been increased by Rs6.10 per litre, HOBC by Rs7.41, light diesel by Rs2.97 and the price of kerosene oil has been raised by Rs3.32 per litre.
The new maximum ex-depot prices of petroleum products, based on import parity price formula and approved by the federal government, would be effective from February 1. As per the notification, the new petrol price would be Rs71.21 per litre, HOBC Rs86.84 per litre, light diesel Rs61.07 per litre and price of kerosene oil would be Rs61.07 per litre. Ogra said that this revision in prices was necessitated by the increase in Arab Gulf petroleum product prices over the month of January 2010.
Meanwhile, transporters and general public sharply reacted to the whopping increase in petroleum products'' prices, saying that the fresh hike in oil prices is not acceptable.
A private TV channel said that the transporters rejected the hike in petroleum products'' prices. They said that they would announce their future line of action regarding the hike within two days. They said that if the fresh increase was not withdrawn then they would be compelled to go on wheel-jam strike. Traders also rejected the increase in oil prices, saying that the fresh hike would further push up prices of commodities and aggravate the already deteriorating economic situation of the country.