Hike in POL prices: commodities' prices to go up by 10-15 percent

The prices of all commodities would increase by 10 to 15 percent after the recent increase of about 10 percent in petroleum products prices, a survey carried out by Business Recorder showed. Most affected would be the prices of daily use items like pulses, vegetables, cooking oil, etc, according to the survey.
Public transport operators in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad told this scribe said that they would increase fares by 10 percent to match the raise in petroleum prices announced by the government. They threatened to launch a protest if the government did not heed their concerns. "We will take to the roads and streets of the city and start a wheel jam strike," one transporter said, adding that the government has increased the prices of all the petroleum products including CNG and mobile oil.
Muhammad Saeed, a representative of All Pakistan Goods Transport Association, said that if a transporter was charging Rs 20,000 before the increase in petroleum price from Lahore to Islamabad, now he will charge Rs 25,000 due to higher petroleum cost.
He said that almost 35-40 percent of the goods transporters have ceased to ply on the roads as their business is no more profitable, while the few which remain in business are passing through a difficult economic phase. He accused government policies of destroying the industry. Supply of goods is totally dependent on availability of transport. "We provide connectivity to the entire country and supply basic necessities of life from Karachi to Khyber," Saeed said.
Umar Awan, a vegetable and fruit trader, said that with transporters increasing fares by 10 to 15 percent just after the government announced new petroleum prices of vegetables and fruits will also rise commensurately. "We will be unable to run our business without shifting the burden onto the consumers," said Kabir Hassain, a van owner. He urged the government to revoke the increase in fuel prices. "We will increase fares on our own if the government does not consider our application that we have submitted in this regard," Hassain said. He said that during last year, prices of petroleum products had increased many times, but transporters had so far not raised fares and now it is the transporters' compulsion to revise the fares.
Rawalpindi-Islamabad Transport Association President Muhammad Sultan said that they would increase fares, adding that the transporters were left with no option other than to increase the fares and shift the burden on passengers. He said that with increase in diesel prices the rates of oil and hydraulic oil had also soared. He said that the government had devised a slab-based formula for increase in fares but it was no more applicable.
"As per the formula we have to increase fares by one rupee for each passenger per kilometre," he said. He added that the formula was applicable when per litre price of diesel was below Rs 80 and now a new policy was needed. The fares, he said, would be revised the same day for all routes. He urged the government not to take anti-people decisions as the ultimate sufferers of price-hike were poor masses. The Urban Transport Unions president Khan Zaman said that transporters would hold rally against increase in fuel prices. "If the government does not withdraw its decision we would be compelled to increase fares," he added.