I n the largest-ever price increase of petrol, the state-owned oil companies on Saturday hiked the price of petrol by Rs 5 per litre.

Already reeling under rising inflation and high prices, the common man was given an unprecedented jolt. And that is not all: the oil companies said that they should have hiked the price of petrol by Rs 10 pr litre to offset the losses they suffer due to the subsidies they offer.

Although a fuel price hike was inevitable, significantly, the government held back the increase because of assembly elections in five states. Experts say that had fuel prices been hiked earlier, voters would have punished the UPA by voting against it.

This was the ninth hike in the price of petrol in a year. With this hike, inflation is likely to rise sharply once again. With the Reserve Bank of India just last week raising interest rates to curb runaway inflation, the common man is already under tremendous burden.

So what do you think of this increase in the price of petrol? What do you think can be done to register a protest against such huge hikes? How do you plan to tackle or beat this increase? Tell us in the message board below.

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