HYDERABAD: Hours before the fuel price hike was to be enforced, petrol bunks here on Friday either put up ‘no stock’ boards or witnessed swarms of motorists, who sought to fill their fuel tanks.
The situation was triggered by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman raising the duty on fuel by Rs 2 per litre, taking the effective per-litre hike in prices to Rs 2.60 for petrol and Rs 2.56 for diesel in Telangana.
Some bunks displayed ‘out of stock’ boards even though they had supplied, as they sought to make a quick buck after midnight, sources said. A private employee, E Kiran Kumar, who was filling fuel at a petrol bunk, said, “We must thank PM Modi for his gift of increased petrol prices. In his first term, people suffered with demonetisation and GST. Now, he has begun hitting people below the belt.”
A Ramesh, who is in charge of Sri Krishna Service Station at Somajiguda, said some dealers in the city put up ‘no stock’ boards to make extra money by selling old stock at new prices.