The decision to introduce daily price change of petrol and diesel on the basis of the international market for crude oil has evoked mixed response from the public. While a section of society has welcomed the initiative, petrol bunk owners and employees are not pleased with it.

The move, which came into force since last Friday, will have dynamic pricing for petrol and diesel according to crude oil price in international market. The price changes daily at 6 am. Earlier, it used to be at midnight every fortnight.

The pricing seems to have brought some relief among consumers. Santhosh Kumar M, a techie, said,” The daily price change will not hit on our pockets hard. Moreover, with daily price change, we don’t have to worry much like what it was earlier when prices changed every fortnight.”

N Murugesan, Secretary of the Coimbatore Lorry owners Association, said they hoped the daily price change did not affect them much. “The ministry has said that the difference will not be more than 50 paise, which is welcome,” he said.

Petrol bunk owners and workers had a different view. Petrol Pump Owners’ Association secretary R Rajasekar said, “This is worse than commodity trading. We have already requested the ministry to reconsider this decision,” he said.

Employees too were not happy. A forecourt manager who insisted on anonymity said, “Now I have to start my day at 5.30 am. I need to reach early to the bunk and reset the prices.”

A bunk manager said, “This is a huge administration risk. We need to keep accounts up to date and everything has to be maintained on a day-to-day basis.”

Australia and the US have similar dynamic fuel pricing.