Coffee consignment trucks from Kozhikode heading for Mangalore port prefer a snappy detour within Kerala to sipping their fuel from pumps under the circuit of Mangalore Refineries. Transporters swear that, Mahe, on the Kozhikode (Kerala)- Mangalore (Karnataka) road, is emerging a better price bet for mid-tour refuelling, especially, after the fuel price hike.
Mahe, a Pondichery-governed pocket burough within North Kerala, is also the favoured haunt of pilgrims from South, bound to the famed Mookambika temple near Mangalore. ?The demand has suddenly perked up that there is a constant stock problem,? says Soundararajan, who works in a pump in Mahe. There are as many as 18 petrol pumps in this 9-sq km town.
Petrol costs only Rs 48 per litre in Mahe and diesel Rs 35.4 per litre.
As Union Territory, Pondicherry government commanded at least 8% sales tax differential with the neigbouring states. At the same time, afer the hike, in Kasargod, Kerala?s northest district, petrol costs Rs 53.6 per litre and diesel Rs 38.43 per litre.
State tax cuts had brought down the price only by Rs 1.22 pr litre for petrol and 66 paise for diesel. In Bangalore, the capital city of the state, where ONGC?s Mangalore Refineries is stationed, petrol and diesel costs Rs 59.5 and Rs 39.8 per litre respectively.
?Pumps in Mahe are most useful for trucks with 500-litre fuel-tanks.
For each sumptous tanking up, there are savings to the tune of Rs 750-Rs 1000, depending on which area, one used to fuel from earlier,? says Xavier Mathai, a driver with Vavar Transporting Company.
Even earlier, it was a standing headache for Pondicherry government that there was suspected grey trade, when the fuel was brought to the Union Territory through the states. Ministers from Pondicherry had been continously on toes that the lower sales tax was benefiting the floating traffic rather than the local economy.
Cynics would claim, however, that the truckdrivers? passion for fuelling in Mahe is only a newfound excuse. It?s an open secret that the beehive of liqour trade in Kerala is one of the factors that keeps Keralite the country?s highest per capita IMFL guzzler. After 230 years of French rule, the Mahe has its cultural roots in liqour vending. In this town of 30,000 inhabitants (14,000 male), as much as 3.5 lakh litres of liqour per day are traded per day, betraying huge external buyers.
After the new fuel economy consciousness, the motto of motorists is that a tax haven that?s good enough for the driver is good enough for the vehicle too.