Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that the Centre has decided ‘in principle' for deregulating diesel prices, but from when has not been decided. “Our oil prices are not in line with the global prices,” he said in a question-and-answer session on the XII Plan at a city college here on Tuesday.
He said there was agreement on the need for deregulating diesel prices, meaning cutting diesel subsidy, but no time schedule had been decided upon. He said the public was not aware of the huge cost of subsidising diesel. The money to foot the diesel subsidy bill had to come from the rest of the economy. There was a pressing need to educate the masses about this cost and its effects. He said energy efficiency should be a focus area in the XII Plan because there would be a spike in energy demand.