May 13: Unknown persons pumped kerosene into a drinking water pipeline at Venkatadri Colony in Kurnool town on Wednesday, causing panic.
It was at 11 am that the municipal authorities supplied water to Venkatadri Colony residents. But those who consumed the water found that it smelt and tasted like kerosene.

Dec. 5: The government on Friday announced a reduction in the price of petrol by Rs 5 a litre and in diesel by Rs 2 a litre, to be effective from midnight Friday-Saturday, as the international price of crude hit a four-year low. There will be no reduction in kerosene or LPG prices.

The government today cut prices of petrol by 10 per cent and diesel by 6 per cent, effective midnight, a day before the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are expected to announce a coordinate economic stimulus package combining infrastructure investment, excise breaks and key lending rate cuts.

The government on Thursday imposed petroleum development levy on diesel and kerosene and increased its ratio on petrol and high octane blending component (HOBC).
A source told Dawn that the decision would help the government earn an additional amount of Rs3.5 billion a month.

NEW DELHI: The continued slide in crude oil prices in the international market has brought cheers to the loss making oil marketing companies (OMCs) with the Indian crude basket dropping below the $100-mark for the first time in the last six months.

THE poor may now hope to use nonpolluting lanterns instead of carbon emitting kerosene lamps. The government is considering a proposal to use a portion of kerosene subsidy to fund distribution of solar lanterns in rural areas. The proposal, discussed in the Prime Minister's Energy Co-ordination Committee (ECC) meeting recently, is to formalise a scheme after extensive consultation with the state governments.
The move assumes significance amidst growing concerns over rising cost of fossil fuel, particularly crude oil. India imports over 70% of its crude oil requirement.

Commentarao
S.L. Rao

Results first
Subsidies have been the albatross around the necks of finance ministers, from Manmohan Singh in 1991 to P. Chidambaram today. These have constrained the freedom to invest in agriculture and in infrastructure, both physical and social. This has resulted in increased inequalities in sectoral growth in the economy. Chidambaram produced a paper to show the insidious effects of subsidies. Yet he, like his prime minister, has been unable to take any corrective action.

Advocating the removal of subsidies on non-renewable fuels like kerosene, chairman of the Nobel-prize winning Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change R K Pachauri on Tuesday urged the Government to invest this money in promoting clean and alternative sources of energy.