Bengaluru: Following Friday’s Rs 6 hike in the per-litre price of LPG for automobiles, auto rickshwaw drivers in Bengaluru say their earnings have been significantly cut short. The new price of Rs 95.24 per litre led to filling stations across the city seeing a much lesser number of auto rickshwas on Saturday.Syed Moula, an auto driver from Madiwala, said he was considering taking up some other work. “LPG prices before the (Iran) war were around Rs 60. With one litre my auto would run for around 25km. Now, for the same distance, I have to pay almost Rs 100,” Moula said. He said some riders are now paying extra tips to help drivers out. “Today, I dropped a customer to KSR station who was getting late for his train. Though the fare was Rs 300, he paid me Rs 600. Only such tips are keeping us going,” Moula said.Drivers also complained that aggregator platforms had not revised the fares even after the price hike. “I don’t see any compensation being provided for the high fuel prices. A lot of drivers opted for LPG as CNG was expensive, but now both are at the same level,” said Manikandan U from Koramangala.Hoteliers protest steep hikeKarnataka State Hotels Association (KSHA) Saturday held a protest at Freedom Park to demand that the govt immediately reduce GST on 19-kg commercial LPG cylinders from 18% to 5%. Hoteliers said prices have risen from Rs 1,800–2,000 in March to more than Rs 3,000 now. The hotel and restaurant industry is facing an unprecedented crisis, the association said.Hike ‘inevitable’: Union min Union minister Pralhad Joshi Saturday defended the hike in commercial LPG cylinder price, citing India’s dependence on imports. He said over 50% of the country’s LPG requirement was met through imports and the increase in price was “inevitable,” given that oil marketing companies were incurring heavy losses due to disruption in global supply chains.
