Week before Ganeshotsav, petrol flares up to Rs 88.77 in Maharashtra
Mumbai, Sep 6 : Barely a week before the state's biggest public festival Ganeshotsav, petrol-diesel prices in Maharashtra's Parbhani shot up to Rs 88.77, perhaps the highest in the country, an official said.
Parbhani District Petroleum Dealers Association President Sanjay Deshmukh said that even diesel prices are on a sharp upswing and stood at Rs 76.59 on Thursday, hitting the commoners hard.
Federation of All Maharashtra Petroleum Dealers Association (FAMPEDA) President Uday Lodh said that Amravati follows at Rs 88.25 and Aurangabad at Rs 87.96 per litre.
Next is Nagpur at Rs 87.39, Mumbai at Rs 86.91 and Pune at Rs 86.71 per litre for petrol, he said.
All India Petrol Dealers Association spokesperson Ali Daruwala said the average rates of petrol in Maharashtra was at Rs 86.80, diesel Rs 74.69, with plus/minus Rs 0.25, depending on local variations.
He attributed the current upswing to crude oil prices touching $77 per barrel and INR depreciating to almost Rs 72 per dollar.
Besides other international politico-economic factors like Iran and OPEC not increasing its output, Daruwala said that every single dollar hike in global crude prices can lead to increase of Rs 1.50 per litre petrol in India.
The officials pointed out that the masses have stoically borne the burden of the spiraling rates of petrol and diesel without complaining, but it has had a cascading effect on other sectors of the economy.
For instance, the prices of essentials, vegetables and other commodities have shot up by 20-25 per cent in major cities.
This is directly attributed to increased transportation costs on account of the fuel price hikes, dealing a blow to the upcoming 10-day Ganeshotsav festivities, and the price rise trends expected to continue.
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Affront to non-Hindi speaking people: Chidambaram slams use of Hindi words in bills' names
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader P Chidambaram has slammed the "increasing practice" of the government using Hindi words in the titles of the bills and said the change is an "affront" to the non-Hindi-speaking people.
Chidambaram said the non-Hindi-speaking people cannot identify a Bill/Act with titles that are in Hindi words written in English letters, and they cannot pronounce them.
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"I am opposed to the increasing practice of the government using Hindi words written in English letters in the title of the Bills to be introduced in Parliament," the former Union minister said late Monday night.
Hitherto, the practice was to write the title of the Bill in English words in the English version and in Hindi words in the Hindi version of the Bill, Chidambaram said.
"When no one pointed out any difficulty in the 75 year practice, why should government make a change?" he said.
"This change is an affront to non-Hindi speaking people and to States that have an official language other than Hindi," the Congress leader said.
Successive governments have reiterated the promise that English will remain an Associate Official Language, Chidambaram said.
"I fear that promise is in danger of being broken," the Congress MP said.
