Questions claims of oil firms that they are incurring losses
Vayalar Ravi on Saturday became the second Union Minister of the Congress, after A.K. Antony, to disapprove of the petrol price hike and asked Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy to take a “closer look” at the issue before deciding on any further increase.
Mr. Ravi, in a letter to Mr. Reddy, questioned the claims of oil companies that they were incurring huge losses and asked him to scrutinise the issue in detail.
Defence Minister Antony said on Wednesday that the hike was “not a correct step” and the oil companies should have shown some “propriety” before taking the decision.
“Apparently, the claim made by oil companies that they are running at a loss seems to be untrue. As a matter of fact, the expenditure of oil companies, including salaries, is among the highest in India and there is a perception that funds are being wasted,” Mr. Ravi, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister, said in the letter.
“In this backdrop, I feel a closer scrutiny is needed before deciding on any further increase in oil prices. Instead, a bold look may be taken at reducing the recent hike,” he said.
Keywords: dissent, Petrol price hike, Vayalar Ravi
the basic question to be answered by the authorities are . what is the original cost of the crude oil?[ subject to Exchange value} What is the cost of purification or call processing charges? What is the excise duty charged on the product? What are all the taxes the center and the states add to the product before it reaches the consumer? If a proper analysis and a meaningful discussion is made and arrive at a conclusion and the same is made known to public many of the problems get solved by itself. We are of the view that Govt. is playing a dilly dally game in this matter and shifting the blame on oil companies.
Happy to see the Kerala ministers raising their voice against the greedy OMC bureaucrats. Mr Ravi pointed out the aristocratic way of management going on in the oil companies. (Visible in their audit reports). They forget that the OMC' are owned (60%) by the People of India. I'm Proud to be a keralite.
@subramanyan good points
Several questions arise. What is the level of discussions in the
council of ministers and in the cabinet and its committees? It is
somewhat unusual to see senior cabinet minsiters exprssing views
publicly aginst the decision of the cabinet. There is also a clear
attempt by the minisity to put the blame on the oil companies. Not
only this, the minsiter has also charged the oil companies of waste of
money, a serious charge. He has also talked of high salary and
expenses. It is a widely known fact that not a rupeee in the salary of
any public sector emplooyees is increased without the careful and
deeper examination of the minsitry. Making the public secor oil
companeis as scapegoats cannot be appreciated.
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