Click to play videoNew Delhi: Col Bhatia, a 62-year-old retired ex-service man, is already feeling the pinch of fuel hike. A retired Army officer, he runs a tourism business and drives around 100 kms daily from Noida to Delhi and back. He recently switched to a diesel car to save money on fuel but the Rs 2 hike on diesel has left him disappointed.
"I do drive about 80-90 kms everyday for work and another 20 kms to pick up my wife from school. The hike in fuel prices will hit us very badly," said Col Bhatia.
But the concern for the Colonel and Mrs Bhatia is not merely the rise in fuel prices but also the repercussions that are likely to follow, like a rise in vegetable prices.
"As it's the rates have doubled since last year, and with the fuel prices going up, I don't know tomorrow when I come, how much I have to pay for vegetable. It's become so difficult," Mrs Bhatia said.
Add to that, a hike of Rs 35 per cylinder for LPG has the family even more worried.
"Prices of vegetables are already high, now the cylinder. I don't know how will the other families with lower income and larger families survive? I don't know what will happen tomorrow," she added.
While Mrs Bhatia worries about spiralling household expenses, her husband is busy calculating how much extra he now has to spend.
"I spent almost Rs 3000 per month on fuel. Now with the fuel price hike, it would mean an additional Rs 1500. Besides, the LPG rates have gone up, so will the vegetables. At the end of the month you are just left with nothing and just live hand to mouth," he said.
As the couple discuss the fuel hike over a cup of tea, they are almost resigned to what lies ahead - a life far more expensive.
"Sometimes when I get up I don't feel like going to school but I have to. How will we survive, otherwise?" says Mrs Bhatia as her husband says it seems there's just no retirement age.
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