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Post-poll: Brace for up to Rs 5 and Rs 3 per litre raise in petrol, diesel prices

Agencies
May 8, 2019

New Delhi, May 8: Petrol and diesel prices may increase sharply soon after new government comes to power at the Centre with oil companies looking to raise the retail price of the two transport fuels between Rs 3-5 per litre in phases and make up for losses they incurred by keeping the prices at artificially low levels in the run up to elections 2019.

Government sources said that oil companies sold petrol at almost Rs 5 per litre discount and diesel at Rs 3 per litre discount in March and April when average crude oil price of Indian basket hit a high of about $ 67 a barrel and $ 71 barrel respectively. At this level of crude oil prices (of over $70 a barrel), petrol was priced at over Rs 78 a litre and diesel over Rs 70 a litre in August, 2018.

It is, however, priced at around Rs 73 and Rs 66.66 per litre now respectively suggesting that oil marketing companies (OMCs) losing again heavily on retail sale of the two products.

"Oil PSUs have avoided hiking oil prices in tandem with global crude rates for almost two months now and the pattern may well continue till the end of May when elections gets over. So, it would not come as a surprise if domestic oil prices witness a sharp spike after the election season comes to a close unless the new government issues fresh advisory to stagger the required hike to prevent a public outrage," said an energy sector expert of a global audit and consulting form who did not wish to be named.

OMCs have been soft on increasing petrol and diesel prices since the beginning of 2019 but it has become more pronounced from March when election dates were announced. Since March, there have been numerous days when both petrol and diesel prices have remained static despite sharp movement in global oil prices.

While experts term this a big loss for oil companies, officials in leading oil sector PSUs said that as the retail price of petrol and diesel are determined on the basis of global oil prices in trailing 15 day period and also as prices are determined on the basis of movement of international petrol and diesel prices and not crude oil, retail prices could remain static even through crude prices move.

While oil companies have built losses on sale of petrol and diesel by not carrying forward the requisite hikes during election time, they have not shied from passing any cut in retail price of the auto fuel when international crude price has shown some softening in the month of May. Petrol price has been cut by almost 7 paisa and diesel by 5 paisa since May 4.

"We have to remember companies like Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum, and Bharat petroleum are all government run companies. So even if petrol and diesel prices are, so called, freed from any administered control, government still continues to use its hold over the companies to get prices that they feel is right for a particular time," said an official source.

This is not the first time that government has controlled the price of petrol and diesel. During Karnataka state elections last year, petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for a 19-day period despite rising global crude oil prices. And soon after polls, there was a non-stop 16-day hike period, resulting in an overall rise of approximately Rs 3.5 in both petrol and diesel rates.

The same trend was observed during the Gujarat elections in 2017 when oil PSUs had stopped revising/increasing fuel prices 14 days prior to polling.

* Average crude price (Indian basket) in August 2018: $ 72 a barrel

* Petrol price in August: Rs 78.5 a litre in Delhi

* Diesel price In August: Rs 70 a litre in Delhi

* Average crude price (Indian basket) in April 2019: $71 a barrel

* Petrol price in April: Rs 73 a litre in Delhi

* Diesel price in April: Rs 66.5 a litre in Delhi

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News Network
August 5,2020

Shivamogga, Aug 5: Karnataka Minister KS Eshwarappa on Wednesday hailed the laying of foundation stone (bhoomi pujan) for a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and said "Kashi Vishwanath and "Krishna Janmasthan temples have to be liberated".

"It is a good day that the foundation stone for Ram Temple has been laid. A beautiful temple will come up, but there are Kashi Vishwanath and Krishna Janmasthan temples which have to be liberated," Eshwarappa said.

The minister said that there is a "sign of slavery" at Krishna temple in Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.

"The whole nation is dreaming of Shri Krishna temple in Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath temple. I have visited the two temples. 

There is a sign of slavery. Mosques are there at holy places. When I visited the place at Mathura, I witnessed the wall. When we look at the wall, we feel like we are still slaves," he said.

"While visiting Kashi, there is also a structure of slavery. Dream of Hindus is fulfilled in Ayodhya. One day, it will be fulfilled in Mathura and Kashi. Mathura Sri Krishna and Kashi Vishwanath will be freed and temple will be built," Eshwarappa added.

The Places of Worship Act, enacted in 1991, says that religious character of a place of worship existing on the August 15, 1947 shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day. The Act kept Ayodhya case out of its purview.

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News Network
May 30,2020

Bengaluru, May 30: Bengaluru City civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on the food delivery startup Swiggy for irresponsible disposal of waste, an official said on Friday.

"Thinking of food is great - Swiggy. Hope you also think of segregating waste and disposing of it responsibly," tweeted BBMP Solid Waste Management Special Commissioner D. Randeep.

Randeep said a penalty of Rs 50,000 was imposed on Swiggy Kitchen at Katriguppe in the city for the violation.

"The incident with respect to waste segregation has been brought to our notice and happened at one of our kitchens in Bengaluru," confirmed a Swiggy spokesperson to IANS without revealing the exact details.

He said the startup is aware of its civic responsibility and has stringent processes to ensure high standards of compliance.

"While we investigate and rectify the root cause of the matter, we are reinforcing necessary awareness on the best practices to be followed amongst our teams and partner network to ensure complete compliance with waste management," the spokesperson added.

Swiggy has been penalised earlier as well for its irresponsible disposal of waste.

Recently, the BBMP’s solid waste management department has also fined an apartment complex Rs 15,000 for not segregating waste into dry, wet and reject categories.

Waste disposal norms for apartments

"Segregation of waste is mandatory in apartments. Onus of enforcing segregation rules lies on the (apartment) association and waste should be segregated as dry, wet and reject," said Randeep.

InClover Grand Apartments at Baiyappanhalli was penalised for the offence of improper waste disposal. Similarly, BBMP marshals also caught and fined some people openly discarding waste in public spaces.

"Dear citizens, please change your old habits. Our marshals are watching and will fine those who throw garbage in public spaces," BBMP Special Commissioner Randeep said.

He shared the photographs of two scooter-borne individuals being caught in the act and penalised at Kuvempunagar in Bengaluru.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Mangalore, Jun 3: One man was arrested by the Crime Branch of city police from Mangalore for allegedly having links with gangster Ravi Pujari, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil said on Wednesday.

According to the police, the man identified as Ghulam has been sent to 10-day police custody.

"During the investigation of a case related to Ravi Pujari, it was found that one Ghulam is a close associate of Pujari and had helped him in extortion and other illegal activity. Ghulam was arrested from Mangalore. He was produced before a court and sent to 10-day police custody," Patil said.

The senior police officer said that further investigation is on in the matter.

Pujari, who was wanted in several cases including ones related to heinous crimes like murder and extortion, was brought to Bengaluru earlier this year from Senegal. He had reportedly gone underground two decades ago and had allegedly been carrying out illegal activities from abroad.

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