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Deregulation of oil prices with human face: Deora

Photo: PTI

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora (right) interacts with Bohra industrialists and traders at an international exhibition at the World Trade Centre in South Mumbai on Sunday. —

MUMBAI: The government has been making periodic changes in the prices of petrol and diesel depending upon international rates, which effectively is as good as deregulation, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora said on Sunday. However, he indicated that overall deregulation of petroleum products which includes kerosene and Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used by the poor needed to have a human face.

Speaking to journalists after the inauguration of the International Dawoodi Bohra Trade Exhibition here, Mr. Deora said the budget 2009-10 has provided as much as Rs. 30,000 crore for subsidies in kerosene and LPG.

The government has not raised kerosene prices for 10 years, he said and indicated that the fuel of the poor would continue to be subsidised.

Responding to a query on whether the government has dropped plans for overall deregulation of petroleum prices, he said “deregulation needed to have a human face.”

As a policy, petroleum prices are regulated by the government which results in huge subsidy burden on the government.

While Mr. Deora justified the recent increase in the prices of petrol and diesel arguing that the oil companies fell under the Navaratna category and cannot sell at a loss.

He pointed out that the domestic prices were raised only when the international prices went up from about $50 a barrel to $75 a barrel.

He said the government could consider reducing the prices if the international prices fell and stabilised at that level for four to five weeks.

Mr. Deora said the government had earlier reduced the domestic prices of petrol by as much as Rs. 10 per litre when there was a sharp fall in international prices.

Meanwhile, the Minister announced that entire Mumbai would get cooking gas through pipes over the next two years. At present, only about 3.80 lakh homes have been given piped gas connection.

Piped gas provider, Mahanagar Gas faced problems, like digging of roads, to lay the pipelines. Mr. Deora said recently the Municipal Commissioner met him in this regard. — PTI

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