E-Paper
Explain freeze in oil prices, EC tells govt
The Election Commission has asked the petroleum ministry to clarify why fuel prices have not been increased since December 31 and whether this is a deliberate ploy in view of the elections.
The Election Commission has asked the petroleum ministry to clarify why fuel prices have not been increased since December 31 and whether this is a deliberate ploy in view of the elections.
Public sector oil firms had apparently sought permission to increase prices of petrol and diesel to cover the $4 per barrel increase in the prices of crude oil.
The EC has asked the ministry why it was not following its declared policy of non-interference in a decontrolled regime.
Petroleum secretary B.K. Chaturvedi said: “We explained that fuel prices are not fixed by the government but the oil companies, which do it on a fortnightly basis.”
Refuting the claim that oil companies were losing due to a delay in increase of prices, he said the profits of oil companies had increased by 50 per cent in the first nine months of 2003-04.
Indian Oil Corporation has reported an increase of 31 per cent in net profit. Bharat Petroleum's profit jumped 59 per cent to 1280.7 crore, while Hindustan Petroleum’s profit was 52.3 per cent at Rs 1376 crore.
Meanwhile, petroleum minister Ram Naik dismissed reports that prices of petroleum products might be hiked after polls.
