Gas prices are artificially inflated by foreign companies, car owners have complained, raising the spectre of a national gas crisis.

In a letter to the company in the Gulf region, which is owned by the Indian government, the owners of five petrol stations in the city of Alwar, which has a population of some 40,000, alleged that the price of gas had been artificially inflated and that the state was being forced to pay more to foreign companies to import fuel.

“The fuel prices are going up by 5-10 percent and it is not sustainable,” said Ashok Sharma, a resident of Alwara village in the coastal city of Port Blair.

“We don’t have enough money to pay the price.

The price of petrol is rising by 25 percent a month.”

Mr Sharma also claimed that the government had asked the petrol station owners to buy their petrol at a reduced rate of 5 percent.

“We don and they (the petrol companies) won’t give us the money for this,” he said.

The petrol station in Alwada, one of the poorest communities in Mumbai, was one of many in Mumbai to report gas price increases, which were later denied by the state.

The owners of the five petrol pumps in the village had filed the petition with the Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday and said they had received letters from the state on September 29 demanding that they pay 10 percent more for fuel.

The letter, addressed to the owners, stated that the local government had agreed to buy the petrol from a foreign company, which the letter did not identify.

“After our local government has paid the government, we will send our bill to the government,” the letter said.

Alwara, a coastal city in the state of Maharashtra, is known for its poverty and poor air quality.

Its capital, Mumbai, has a concentration of large auto dealerships.

The owners also complained that the foreign companies had raised the price to 10 percent and they were not being paid.

The state has been taking steps to curb petrol prices, including the introduction of a petrol tax for fuel and a petrol excise duty.

The government has also announced a pilot scheme for gas and diesel in five petrol pump stations.