The Hindu : National : Chaturvedi report may not see light of day, for now

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Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008
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Chaturvedi report may not see light of day, for now

Sujay Mehdudia

No takers for fuel price hike

NEW DELHI: The Chaturvedi Committee report, recommending a sharp hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and petrol, has found no takers in the United Progressive Alliance government. It is learnt the Petroleum Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office have differed on making the report public.

Highly placed sources said senior officials in the Ministry were in favour of putting the report on the official website so that it could be in the public domain for intense debate. As it contained the views of all oil public sector undertakings for putting the petroleum sector back into shape, the report should be circulated for an open debate, the officials felt. However, the PMO turned down the request, for the time being.

The PMO and the Ministry are yet to officially react to the contents of the report.

The committee — headed by Planning Commission member B.K. Chaturvedi — was asked by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to re-visit the various aspects of functioning of the PSUs and their working. However, a senior official said, with the UPA government already in election mode, there was no question of its looking into sensitive issues like hiking petrol and diesel prices on a monthly basis, phasing out the subsidy on LPG and imposing a metro tax on 11 cities as recommended by the committee. “The report will be put in the cold storage for the time being.”

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