Decision on diesel, LPG price hike soon

[email protected] (The Hindu)
January 12, 2013

Lpg_DNew Delhi, Jan 12: Even as the Congress core group headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi got down to debate the fuel price hike, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily on Friday said the decision on hiking diesel and LPG prices would be taken “as quickly as possible”.

A decision on increasing the supply of subsidised cylinders from six to nine per household a year would also be taken soon, he told journalists.

The urgency to raise prices comes in wake of the fuel subsidy burgeoning to nearly Rs. 1,60,000 crore during 2012-13.

Asked about the proposals sent by his Ministry to the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Mr. Moily said: “When the decision is taken, you will be the first to know. The Kelkar Committee recommendations are under serious consideration.” The Ministry’s proposals are reportedly based on recommendations of the Vijay Kelkar Committee, which was appointed by the Finance Ministry to suggest a road map for fiscal consolidation.

The Kelkar panel had recommended an immediate hike in the price of diesel by Rs. 4 a litre, kerosene by Rs. 2 a litre and LPG by Rs. 50 per cylinder. Thereafter, it suggested raising the rates in a phased manner over the next two to five years or till the time the subsidy component on diesel, LPG and kerosene is wiped out.

The Petroleum Ministry’s fast tracking of fuel price hike comes in the wake of the Finance Ministry’s refusal to bear the additional subsidy arising out of the proposed increase in subsidised cylinders from six to nine a year.

To compensate for this, the Petroleum Ministry has proposed a hike of Rs. 100 per LPG cylinder in two instalments to partially make up for the Rs. 490.50 per bottle loss being incurred currently. The Ministry has, in its proposals, recommended a quarterly hike of Rs. 50 per cylinder from April till the entire losses are wiped out.

On diesel, it has proposed a Rs. 3-4.50 per litre hike at one go monthly instalments of Re. 1 or Rs. 1.50 per litre. From April, it wanted Re. 1 a litre increase every month till such time the current loss of Rs. 9 is wiped out. It has also proposed raising kerosene price by 35 paise a litre per month or one rupee a litre per quarter till March 2015.

The price of diesel was revised on September 14 and it currently costs Rs. 47.15 per litre in Delhi.

Kerosene rate has not changed since June 2011 and it currently is Rs. 14.79 per litre in Delhi.

Subsidised LPG costs Rs. 410.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder and any household requirement beyond the current cap of 6 cylinders is to be bought at the near-market price of Rs. 895.50 per bottle.

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News Network
May 21,2020

Kolkata, May 21: Around 300 nurses have left Kolkata for Manipur after resigning from their jobs, said JS Joyrita, Deputy Residence Commissioner, Manipur Bhavan, Kolkata on Wednesday.

"Around 60 more nurses will be leaving tomorrow. We are getting many calls from people who want to go back to Manipur," she said.

Earlier, it was reported that 185 nurses have quit their job from hospitals in Kolkata and returned to Imphal. Cristella, a nurse said: "We are not happy that we left our duties. But we faced discrimination, racism and people sometimes spit on us. Lack of PPE kits, and people used to question us everywhere we went."

According to the latest information available on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2961 cases of the virus have been reported from West Bengal 1074 cured/migrated/discharged and 250 deaths.

India's COVID-19 tally reached 1,06,750 on Wednesday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As many as 140 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths to 3,303. Out of the total cases, 61,149 are actives cases and 42,298 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

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News Network
March 16,2020

New Delhi, Mar 16: Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani has been summoned by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe against Yes Bank promoter Rana Kapoor and others, officials said on Monday.

They said Ambani was asked to depose at the Enforcement Directorate office in Mumbai on Monday as his group companies are among the big entities whose loans went bad after borrowing from the crisis-hit bank.

The officials said Ambani, 60, has sought exemption from appearance on some personal grounds and he may be issued a new date.

Ambani's group companies are stated to have taken loans of about Rs 12,800 crore from the bank that turned NPAs.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in a March 6 press conference that the Anil Ambani Group, Essel, ILFS, DHFL and Vodafone were among the stressed corporates Yes Bank had exposure to.

Officials said promoters of all the big companies who had taken large loans from the beleaguered bank which later turned bad are being summoned for questioning in the case to take investigation forward.

Ambani's statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) upon deposition, they said.

Kapoor, 62, is at present in ED custody after he was arrested by the central probe agency early this month.

The ED has accused Kapoor, his family members and others of laundering "proceeds of crime" worth Rs 4,300 crore by receiving alleged kickbacks in lieu of extending big loans through their bank that later turned NPA.

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March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: India is likely to blacklist about 300 foreigners who came from 16 countries, including Malaysia and Thailand, on tourist visas but attended an Islamic congregation at Nizamuddin here that has become a key source for the spread of coronavirus in the country, officials said on Tuesday.

These foreigners were among around 8,000 people who attended the Tabligh-e-Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz facility in March, many of whom have shown symptoms of COVID-19, a Union Home Ministry officlal said.

About 30 of those who attended the Nizamuddin event in mid-March tested positive and at least three have succumbed to the infection in last few days.

"Those who came on tourist visa but attended the Nizamuddin event stands being in our blacklist as they have violated the visa conditions. Tourist visa holders can't attend religious function," a Union Home ministry official said.

If a foreigner is put in the Home ministry's blacklist, he or she can't travel to India in future.

A total of 281 foreigners were found by the police at the Nizamuddin campus in the last two days.

They include 19 people from Nepal, 20 people from Malaysia, one from Afghanistan, 33 from Myanmar, one from Algeria, one from Djibouti, 28 from Kyrgystan, 72 from Indonesia, 7 from Thailand, 34 from Sri Lanka, 19 from Bangladesh, three from England, one from Singapore, four from Fiji, one from France and one from Kuwait.

Most of these foreigners came on a tourist visa, an official said.

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