Petrol, diesel prices hiked again, scale new highs
New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices on Thursday were hiked by 25 paise per litre each, the second straight day of increase in rates that took the prices to new highs.
Petrol now costs Rs 84.70 per litre in Delhi and diesel is priced at Rs 74.88, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies.
This is the second straight day of a price increase. Rates were hiked by 25 paise each on Wednesday after a five-day hiatus.
In Mumbai, the price of petrol was increased to Rs 91.32 a litre from Rs 91.07 previously, while diesel rates went up from Rs 81.34 to Rs 81.60 per litre.
Petrol price is at a record high in Delhi and is just a shy away from the highest ever rate of Rs 91.34 in Mumbai. Diesel price in Mumbai is at an all-time high.
State-owned fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) -- had on January 6, resumed daily price revision after nearly a month-long hiatus.
Rates were hiked on two consecutive days - totalling 49 paise for petrol and 51 paise for diesel - before they hit a pause button again.
The price increase cycle resumed on Wednesday, after international oil prices rose to their highest level since February 2020, before the coronavirus outbreak in China began spreading across the world, forcing lockdowns that shaved off demand.
Rates, however, eased a bit on Thursday with Brent down 11 cents to USD 55.95 per barrel while NYMEX light sweet crude was down 10 cents at USD 52.81.
The highest ever rate of diesel in Delhi was touched on October 4, 2018, when it touched Rs 75.45 a litre mark. On that day petrol was priced at Rs 84. In Mumbai, the highest level for petrol was also on the same day when it scaled to Rs 91.34.
The government had responded to the situation in October 2018, by cutting excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre in a bid to ease inflationary pressure and boost consumer confidence. Alongside, state-owned fuel retailers cut prices by another Re 1 a litre, which they recouped later.
Though petrol and diesel rates are to be revised on a daily basis in line with benchmark international price and foreign exchange, government-controlled fuel retailers have been moderating rates since the pandemic broke out.
This after they adjusted a Rs 13 per litre hike in excise duty on petrol and Rs 15 a litre on diesel, against a decrease in the retail selling price that was warranted by crude oil prices falling to an average of USD 19 per barrel in April.
Excise duty totals Rs 32.98 per litre in petrol and Rs 31.83 in diesel. VAT in Delhi totals to Rs 19.32 a litre on petrol and Rs 10.85 on diesel.
With international oil prices rebounding from the lows of April, retail rates in India too were revised. Since May 2020, petrol price has risen by Rs 15.04 per litre and diesel by Rs 12.59 a litre, price notifications of oil companies showed.
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Student found dead in hostel room in IIT Kharagpur
Kolkata (PTI): A 22-year-old M Tech student was found dead in his hostel room in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the second such incident reported on the campus within a span of 10 days.
The student, identified as Soham Haldar, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on Tuesday and he was immediately taken to the institute hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, an IIT Kharagpur official said.
Haldar, a dual-degree student in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, was a boarder of the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of Residence on the campus.
Police from the Kharagpur Town police station have initiated a probe into the incident as preliminary findings indicated that it could be a case of suicide, though the exact cause of death will be ascertained following the post-mortem examination, the official said.
In a statement, the institute expressed deep grief over the student's death and said a detailed inquiry has been initiated.
The authorities have informed the family and are extending all possible assistance to them, it added.
Director Suman Chakraborty told PTI that the institute will strengthen the mechanism to identify stressed-out and depressed students and take follow-up steps to address their issues.
The grief-stricken parents of the student, who hailed from Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, have come to the campus and the authorities will speak to them, he said.
"Haldar's friends, faculty and staffers also could not gauge any stress or anxiety in him. But we need to enable students suffering from anxiety and extreme stress to open up their minds and do everything needed to prevent such incidents," he said.
Investigators are also scrutinising CCTV footage from the hostel premises to piece together the sequence of events leading to the incident.
The incident comes close on the heels of another student's death reported on April 18, when 21-year-old Jaibir Singh Dodia, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ahmedabad, allegedly died after jumping from the eighth floor of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence. That case is also under investigation.
The back-to-back incidents have once again brought the issue of mental health and student support systems at the institute into focus, especially in view of several such cases reported last year.
