Karimnagar (Telangana), June 6

Irked by the recent meagre cut in fuel prices, a man in Telangana on Wednesday ‘donated’ nine paise to the prime minister’s relief fund.

Chandu Goud (38) of Chandrampet village in neighbouring Sircilla district stumped officials at the grievances day meet when he presented a cheque for nine paise favouring the PMRF, saying it was the amount by which petrol price was reduced recently in the state.

“After 16 days of hike, fuel price was reduced by 9 paise, so I decided to donate it to PM’s relief fund”, Goud was quoted by officials as having told them.

He said petrol price was reduced to Rs 82.91 per litre from Rs 83.

Petrol and diesel prices were cut by 1 paisa per litre each on May 30, the first reduction after 16 days of relentless price hikes that triggered derisive comments.

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) first announced a reduction of 60 paise—the biggest since daily price revision was introduced in mid-June last year, only to retract it within a couple of hours citing a technical error.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had slammed the reduction saying if this was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of a “prank”, it was “childish and in poor taste”. — PTI