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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Agencies
February 7,2020

Jammu & Kashmir, Feb 7: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, besides two political stalwarts from NC and its arch-rival PDP were booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) by the administration on Thursday, officials said.

A magistrate accompanied by police served the order to Mufti at the bungalow where she has been detained, the officials said.

Abdullah was also booked under the PSA, they said.

National Conference general secretary and former minister Ali Mohammed Sagar, who wields a support base in downtown city, was served with a PSA notice public order by the authorities.

Similarly, senior PDP leader Sartaj Madani was booked under the PSA. Madani is the maternal uncle of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.

Both Sagar and Madani were detained in the aftermath of August 5 crackdown by the Centre on politicians following abrogation of special status of the erstwhile state, besides its bifurcation into two union territories.

Their six-month preventive custody was ending on Thursday.

Earlier, the officials had said that former NC legislator Bashir Ahmed Veeri was also booked under the PSA but later it turned out that he had been released.

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News Network
May 7,2020

New Delhi, May 7: Air India has opened bookings for eligible foreign nationals and valid visa holders of the UK, the USA and Singapore for outbound repatriation flights that will be operated between May 7 and May 14 under the Vande Bharat mission, officials said.

Foreign nationals or valid visa holders will be charged the same fare as Indian nationals who want a seat on the inbound repatriation flights, they said.

For all flights between India and the USA under the Vande Bharat mission, Air India is charging a fixed fare of Rs 1 lakh per passenger.

For flights between India and Singapore, the charge is Rs 18,000-20,000 per passenger, and it is Rs 50,000 per person for India-UK flights.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs had clarified that a person who has an Overseas Indian Citizenship (OCI) card, or citizenship of a foreign country, or a valid visa of more than one year of that country, or the green card of that country can travel on repatriation flights leaving India under the Vande Bharat mission.

Air India will be conducting 64 flights to 12 countries between May 7 and May 13 to bring back approximately 15,000 Indians stranded due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had announced on Tuesday.

However, some flights have been delayed and therefore, this set of 64 flights will be operated between May 7 and May 14, the airline officials said.

On Wednesday, an Indian businessman and his cook landed at Delhi airport from Lusaka in Zambia in a plane that was supposed to come without any passengers, senior government officials said.

The private chartered aircraft was scheduled to come empty and take around 40 Zambian nationals to Lusaka in a repatriation flight, they added.

"We had not permitted any incoming passengers. We will seek explanation from the airline (private operator) as to how it happened. BOI (Bureau of Immigration) has a very stringent protocol for dealing with such deviations, which must have been acted upon," said a senior official of aviation regulator DGCA.

It is not clear if the businessman and his cook were deported or sent to a quarantine facility within India.

India has been under a lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended during the lockdown.

However, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights and special flights permitted by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have been allowed to operate during this time.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Lucknow, Aug 2: Uttar Pradesh's cabinet minister for Technical Education Kamal Rani Varun succumbed to COVID-19 on Sunday at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

Kamal Rani is the first minister in Uttar Pradesh to die after contracting coronavirus. She was 62.

On 18 July, the minister tested positive for coronavirus and was admitted to the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital.

She was later shifted to the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief over the minister's death.

In a condolence message issued on Sunday, Adityanath said, "Kamal Rani Varun died on Sunday at around 9.30 am. She was an experienced and capable leader. She discharged her responsibilities with competence. She was a dedicated public representative, who was always working for the welfare of deprived and oppressed sections of the society."

Kamal Rani was the MLA from Ghatampur in Kanpur. She was also twice a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, Adityanath has cancelled his visit to Ayodhya scheduled for the day, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said on Sunday.

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