Mumbai, Jul 24 (IANS): The Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) on Friday announced a hike of Re 1 per kg in the price of CNG used by public and private vehicles, with effect from midnight.

Accordingly, the revised selling price all-inclusive of CNG in Mumbai and surroundings will now be Rs 48.95 per kg from Saturday.

The reasons cited for the hike are to partially recover fixed costs in the face of lower sales volumes due to the Covid-19 pandemic and higher gas cost due to depreciation of the rupee versus the dollar, said the MGL.

However, thousands of domestic users of PNG have been spared any hike this time.

In April 5, MGL had slashed the prices of both CNG and PNG, by Rs 2 and Re 1 per kg, respectively, as the government had reduced the rate of domestically produced natural gas, at the height of the pandemic lockdown.

Even after the latest revision, the MGL said its CNG offers attractive savings of about 60 per cent and 39 per cent, as compared to petrol and diesel, respectively, at the current fuel price levels in Mumbai.