With Opposition parties stalling Parliament over the price rise, Oil Minister Murli Deora said on Thursday the hike in domestic LPG rates translated into less than a rupee per day burden on consumers and 50 paisa a day for PDS kerosene users.
“No government can survive if they don’t know the feeling of voters. We want the people and Opposition parties to understand the compulsions under which we took this decision and the minimal impact it will have on people,” he said here.
Describing claims made by critics of the June 25 decision as “exaggeration”, he said the Rs 35 increase in the price of LPG cylinders translated into an additional burden of less than a rupee per day, considering that a 14.2-kg cylinder of domestic gas lasts 30-35 days.
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The Rs. 3 a litre hike in kerosene translated into an additional burden of 50 paisa per day for a household using 5 litres a month of PDS kerosene.
The hike had become necessary as the difference between retail selling price and cost of production had become unmanageable.
“We have kept the burden on the poor man the minimal. The talk of the hike breaking the back of the poor and common man is nothing but exaggeration,” he said.
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A united Opposition for the third day today stalled proceedings in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, forcing adjournment of both Houses for the day without transacting much business.
Alongside the hike in LPG and kerosene rates, the prices of petrol were freed from government control, leading to an increase in the rates by Rs 3.50 per litre in Delhi from June 26. Diesel prices were increased by only Rs 2 per litre, in preparation for an eventual freeing of prices.
“The then Petroleum Minister Ram Naik (during NDA government) raised price of PDS kerosene from Rs 2.52 per litre in January, 1998, to Rs 9 per litre in March, 2002,” he said. “This hike was 258 per cent, even though crude oil prices rose by just 147 per cent during the period.”
The Congress-led UPA government did not increase kerosene prices for the past six years, despite the price of crude oil (the raw material for making petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene) more than doubling from USD 36 a barrel in May, 2004, to USD 78.