ONGC celebrates 50 years of first oil discovery in Lunej

AHMEDABAD: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Sunday commemorated 50 years of its first oil discovery in Lunej village of Anand district here.

ONGC Chief Managing Director R S Sharma speaking on the occasion said that ONGC has been able to return about Rs 2.7 lakh crore by way of royalties, cess, dividends to Centre and State governments, against the investment of less than Rs 400-crore till 1981, an official release said.

Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora who was the chief guest on the occasion, announced that ONGC would be contributing Rs 3-crore towards providing safe drinking water for the people living in the villages around Lunej, which would be run in collaboration with local municipality, it said.

Talking to mediapersons, Deora said his ministry was contemplating a dual pricing policy for diesel which would reduce subsidy on fuel for luxury cars, commercial and VIP vehicles. However, the subsidy for government transport systems and railways would continue, he added.

The policy is at present at a conceptual level and no concrete decision has been taken on it, Deora added.

He also said that the state governments need to rethink their sales tax on petroleum products, which is responsible for high oil prices of petrol and diesel.