The Hindu Business Line : Deora to meet PM soon on petro product pricing

THE MINISTER for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora (right), with the Petroleum Secretary, Mr M.S. Srinivasan coming out after meeting the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, at his office in the Capital on Thursday. — Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , May 11

The issue of petroleum product pricing seems to be heading towards the Prime Minister's office with the Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, likely to meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh over the next few days.

Soon after his meeting with the Finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, on working out a mechanism to cushion the oil marketing companies (OMCs) and the consumers from the spiralling crude prices, the Petroleum Minister said: ``We had discussions on various options available. We are trying to work out a solution and resolve the stalemate."

Proposals

Asked whether he had also discussed the suggestions of duty restructuring given by the Left parties, Mr Deora told media persons that the proposal of the Left had been forwarded to the Finance Ministry.

The Petroleum Minister had to face strong opposition from Left parties on Wednesday on the issue of a possible price hike in petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas. The Petroleum Ministry had presented before the Left parties the prevailing scenario and the required price increase to protect the OMCs from suffering losses due to surging crude prices.

Left's Stance

The required increase in petrol price was Rs 9.33 per litre, diesel Rs 10.43 crore per litre, kerosene Rs 17.16 per litre and cooking gas Rs 114.45 per cylinder. Instead of burdening the consumer by increasing the prices, the Left parties were of the view that the Finance Minister could be asked to slash the import and excise duties on crude and petroleum products.

The Left parties had also suggested that the Finance Ministry could be asked to part with a portion of the Rs 60,000 crore collected through a cess levied on domestic crude oil.

They had also suggested slashing customs duties to nil and levy of specific excise duties on petroleum products instead of present mix of ad-valorem and specific duties.

They also wanted the Government to foot the under-recoveries directly from the Budget.

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