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BENGALURU: High fuel prices have raised costs for the transport industry and this, in turn, is pushing up commodity prices. Traders and industry representatives have urged the state government to ease the impact by lowering local taxes.

Petrol is sold at Rs 92.3 per litre and diesel at Rs 84.5 in Bengaluru. The freight charges for all commodities have gone up by at least 75 paise per kg. “Wholesale prices of commodities are increasing because of higher freight charges and accordingly, retail prices are also climbing up,” said Lahoti, a former president of the Bangalore Wholesale Food Grains and Pulses Association.

Tur dal, which was available at Rs 90 per kg in November 2020, is now being sold at Rs 125. The price of edible oil has increased from Rs 85 per litre to Rs 142 in the same period.

Prices are moving up at a time when the demand is low. For instance, about 100 trucks of rice arrive at the Yeshwanthpur APMC every day instead of the earlier daily average of 250 trucks. (Each truck carries about 20 tonnes of cargo.) The number of trucks bringing sugar has come down from 20 to 14 and those bringing tur dal, 60 to 35.

A spike in the base price and higher central and state taxes have made fuel pricey. Traders are particularly concerned about trends in diesel prices. Diesel was sold at Rs 67.3 per litre a year ago. The fuel cost of a cargo truck was Rs 19 per km at the time. On Tuesday, the fuel cost was estimated to be around Rs 27 per km.

The transport sector is also feeling the pinch. K Radhakrishna Holla, the president of the Karnataka State Travel Operators’ Association, said that the fuel cost of an Innova taxi had increased from Rs 10 to Rs 14 per km. “This is at a time when only 40 per cent of 2.5 lakh taxis in Bengaluru are because of poor demand,” he said.

Truckers plan chakka jam;

Members of the South Zone Lorry Owners’ Association plan to stage a chakka jam by parking trucks in the middle of highways next week. They will meet in Salem on Thursday. “The modalities of the protest will be discussed at the meeting,” said GR Shanmugappa, the association’s general secretary. Traders and transporters will join hands to launch an all-India strike on February 26.

KM Basave Gowda, the president of the Akhila Karnataka Federation of Petroleum Dealers, said that the central government should come up with a new taxation system for petrol and diesel. “The tax component, especially state sales tax, should be made fixed and independent of the base price of fuels as currently, it fluctuates based on the prices of crude oil in the international market,” Gowda said