Cut fuel prices, fix rates on real cost of refined oil: CPM
CPM, which accused the Centre of a ‘pro-corporate bias,’ said the Centre should have bailed out the aam admi before helping private airlines.
By ET Bureau |
NEW DELHI: CPM, which accused the Centre of a ���pro-corporate bias,��� said the Centre should have bailed out the aam admi before helping private airlines. It asked the petroleum ministry to reduce the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG immediately and do away with bench marking petro products with the international market.
���It appears strange that all the prattling about the under recoveries of public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), the newly discovered financial parameter in place of actual loss were kept on the backburner to give the aforesaid relief at the cost of OMCs. As you are aware, the price of ATF was already reduced in August by OMCs and central government are levying less excise duty on ATF compared to petrol, and diesel,��� CPM polit bureau member and Citu leader M K Pandhe said in a letter to petroleum and natural gas minister Murli Deora.
Mr Pandhe said that there was no justification for maintaining enchanced prices of diesel, petrol and LPG when global crude oil prices had crashed by more than 50% and OMCs appeared ���quite comfortable��� financially to extend relief to private airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. He said the Jet Airways fuel expenditure vis-��-vis its total expenditure has nominally increased from 34%-35% during 2007-08 as per its financial reports.
He said it was ���techno-economically absurd��� to charge $160 per barrel for petrol when the global price is hovering around $60-50 per barrel.
���I hope in the present context of total lack of credibility and fallacy of the global speculative market, government will see reason and do away with its present practice of bench marking the petroleum products like diesel, petrol, LPG etc with international market and instead fix the price as per the actual cost incurred in refining crude oil to petroleum products within the country coupled with rationalisation of taxes/duties as demanded time and again,��� Mr Pandhe said.
The government ruled out any immediate cut. ���There is no proposal to reduce fuel prices. We have to watch (the) situation for a few more weeks,��� a senior official in the oil ministry told reporters. The basket of crude India buys averaged on Tuesday at $56.72 per barrel, a level at which state-run BP, IOC and HP would break even if global prices were to stabilise for a month. ���Price reduction cannot be on the basis of price of one or two days.���
���It appears strange that all the prattling about the under recoveries of public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), the newly discovered financial parameter in place of actual loss were kept on the backburner to give the aforesaid relief at the cost of OMCs. As you are aware, the price of ATF was already reduced in August by OMCs and central government are levying less excise duty on ATF compared to petrol, and diesel,��� CPM polit bureau member and Citu leader M K Pandhe said in a letter to petroleum and natural gas minister Murli Deora.
Mr Pandhe said that there was no justification for maintaining enchanced prices of diesel, petrol and LPG when global crude oil prices had crashed by more than 50% and OMCs appeared ���quite comfortable��� financially to extend relief to private airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. He said the Jet Airways fuel expenditure vis-��-vis its total expenditure has nominally increased from 34%-35% during 2007-08 as per its financial reports.
He said it was ���techno-economically absurd��� to charge $160 per barrel for petrol when the global price is hovering around $60-50 per barrel.
���I hope in the present context of total lack of credibility and fallacy of the global speculative market, government will see reason and do away with its present practice of bench marking the petroleum products like diesel, petrol, LPG etc with international market and instead fix the price as per the actual cost incurred in refining crude oil to petroleum products within the country coupled with rationalisation of taxes/duties as demanded time and again,��� Mr Pandhe said.
The government ruled out any immediate cut. ���There is no proposal to reduce fuel prices. We have to watch (the) situation for a few more weeks,��� a senior official in the oil ministry told reporters. The basket of crude India buys averaged on Tuesday at $56.72 per barrel, a level at which state-run BP, IOC and HP would break even if global prices were to stabilise for a month. ���Price reduction cannot be on the basis of price of one or two days.���
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