Prices of diesel may go up by Rs 4-5/ltre

May 28, 2012

dies

New Delhi, May 28: After a steep hike in petrol prices last week, the government is bracing itself to bite another bullet on diesel front whereas there are indications that there may be a slight cut in petrol price.

A ministers’ meeting on controlled fuel, coming anytime after May 31, may decide on a Rs 4 to Rs 5 per litre rise in diesel prices.

Official sources said the hike could be in the range of Rs 4 to Rs 5 per litre on diesel, although the demand was somewhere around Rs 12 per litre.

“The huge subsidy on diesel, LPG and Kerosene has almost thrown government’s finances in a disarray and the revision is warranted in order to check that,” the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The state-owned oil companies currently are losing Rs 512 crore per day on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene. Diesel is currently sold at a loss of Rs 15.35 a litre, kerosene at Rs 32.98 per litre loss and oil firms lose Rs 479 on sale of every 14.2 kg domestic LPG cylinder.

However, there was no reason given behind why the meeting would take place only after May 31, but analysts said that the government battling a backlash from within and outside due to a steep Rs 7.50 a litre hike in petrol prices, is perhaps buying time to let frayed nerves cool before calling the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), where UPA’s allies and critics of price hike, the TMC and DMK, are also represented.

The EGoM on oil headed by Pranab Mukherjee was due to meet last week. The ministers’ meeting on revision of diesel, LPG and kerosene prices has not taken place since July 2011.

Petrol price cut

Amid protests and a call for an opposition-sponsored bundh on May 31, a slight revision in petrol prices is possible before this month end, a little ahead of the next revision cycle for petroleum prices.

“We are planning to revise petrol prices as the global crude has stabilised in the past fortnight. The volatility in rupee is still posing some problem, but we will see how far it can be done,” a top source from one of the leading oil companies told Deccan Herald.

“The revision may even come before May 31,” he said without giving details of how much cut could be effected. But sources said the cut could be to the tune of Rs 2 to Rs 3.

Oil companies revise petrol prices on the 1st and 16th of every month on the basis of average international price of crude and exchange rate during the previous fortnight.

A day after the steepest ever hike to the tune of Rs 7.50 per litre in petrol prices, Indian Oil Company chairman R S Butola had said the firms will pass on the benefit to consumers in the next revision cycle as the international oil prices showed some softening trend.

But, analysts are reading the possible revision ahead of the schedule as government’s strategy to avoid any confrontation with the Opposition.

Aware of widening price difference between petrol and diesel, the finance ministry is looking at the possibility of raising excise duty on diesel cars, a demand which was overlooked in the Budget 2012-13.

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News Network
June 19,2020

Kolkata, Jun 19: The nationwide clamour for boycott of Chinese goods is getting louder amid the Ladakh face-off, with traders urging the Centre to direct e-commerce firms to restrict the sale of items from the Dragonland, which imports products worth USD 74 billion to India annually.

Of the total import from China, retail traders sell goods worth around USD 17 billion, mostly comprising toys, household items, mobiles, electric and electronic goods and cosmetics among other things, which could possibly be replaced by Indian products, a national trading body said.

"We, at 'Federation of All India Vyapar Mandal', are advising our members to clear their stocks of Chinese products and refrain from placing fresh orders. We are also requesting the government to restrict e-commerce companies from selling Chinese products," V K Bansal, the association's general secretary, told PTI.

Sushil Poddar, the president of the Confederation of West Bengal Traders Association, said its members have been told to shun trading in Chinese goods as much as possible.

Another national traders' body, The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), has decided to step up its movement against the boycott of Chinese goods, under its campaign 'Bhartiya Samaan-Hamara Abhimaan'.

It released a list of over 450 broad categories of commodities, comprising 3,000 Chinese products.

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Agencies
February 10,2020

New Delhi, Feb 10: After an hour-long standoff between the security forces and the students on Monday, the police resorted to a lathi-charge on the protesters near Holy Family hospital which is within walking distance of Jamia Millia Islamia.

A scuffle ensued when police confronted the protesters who tried to push forward towards Parliament. The lathi-charge was made to push back the protesters.

In the melee that ensued, many from both sides fainted.

Some security forces personnel resorted to the lathi-charge while others pushed back the protesters when they threw water pouches at the security forces and abused them.

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News Network
April 21,2020

New Delhi, Apr 21: Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, who has been booked by the Delhi Police for holding a religious congregation here during the lockdown, on Monday urged the followers of the organisation to pray at home in the month of Ramzan.

"I request all, both in India and abroad, to strictly follow the guidelines and instructions of the local or national governments and till the time restrictions are in place and please observe prayers at home. And even in this, we should not invite people from outside," he said in a statement.

Ramzan begins later this week.

While addressing an online briefing on Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cited the Tablighi Jamaat congregation last month, a major hotspot, and the large inflow of travellers from other countries to Delhi as the reasons for the spread of the virus, and said the city was "fighting a difficult battle".

The Delhi Police crime branch, had on March 31, lodged an FIR against seven people, including the cleric, on a complaint by the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin police station for holding the congregation in alleged violation of the orders against large gatherings to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Later, the Indian Penal Code Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was added to the FIR.

The cleric is wanted by the Delhi Police and he responded twice to them. He is currently under home quarantine.

In an audio message released earlier this month, Kandhalvi had said he was exercising self-quarantine after several hundreds who visited the congregation at Nizamudddin Markaz tested positive for coronavirus.

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