THE view from the other side. The first step of the new government in courting public resentment. OGRA has raised the prices of petroleum products by Rs 3 per litre. It would be premature to say that the honeymoon is over; and the high that the legislators of the newly elected government must have felt in the wake of the February 18 elections still must have some kick in it. But the buzz is about to subside, at least to a measure. That is because it is apparent that the general public is going to have to face a set of unpleasant measures. Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has already stated the necessity of rationalizing the petrol prices in the country. Though, during the previous regime, Mr Dar himself might not have recommended keeping the prices unnaturally low, many from the political dispensation that he belongs to would have definitely indulged in some populist sloganeering at every petrol price hike the previous government yielded. All that is about to change now. There is a substantial fiscal deficit left for the new government to clean up. And then there is the turbulence in the oil markets itself. The prices are definitely going to rise. And not just this once. Then there are the soak-the-rich suggestions which would probably mean progressive taxation. Unpopular steps, necessary steps.