NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday rejected the Opposition demand for an immediate rollback in increased prices of petrol and diesel even as Lok Sabha witnessed frequent adjournments with non-Congress parties, including UPA allies the DMK and the Trinamool Congress, criticising the hike and the Opposition staging a walkout from the Rajya Sabha over the issue.

Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI: Following a rise in the international price of crude oil and the increasing under-recovery of State-run Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), the United Progressive Alliance government on Wednesday increased the price of petrol by Rs.4 a litre and diesel by Rs.2 a litre.

DELHI may impose a special cess on petrol and diesel to raise money for expanding the Metro rail network in the Capital ahead of next year

NEW DELHI: Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Sunday urged Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken to help in allotment of land for setting up of 50 more CNG filling stations in the Capital and support the expansion programme of Indraprastha Gas Limited.

The problems in petroleum pricing stem from a flawed method, and will cause immense harm to the oil companies and endanger energy security. A DEBATE without data would be a meaningless exercise. But a debate with faulty or fudged data would be positively dangerous. The prolonged national "debate' over the need to increase petroleum product prices is exactly that. One of the most important arguments of the government was that the move was urgently needed to stem the bleeding losses of the publicly owned oil companies.

The petroleum dealers have strongly opposed the move of the oil companies to withdraw the normal petrol from the market to replace it by the premium brand as according to them, such a hasty decision at a time when the sharp increase of the petroleum products put a burden on the consumers would result in additional burden.

With Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora petitioning Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for restoration of tax breaks for producers of oil and gas, the final call on the issue is likely to be taken by the Union Cabinet. A decision is expected before June 30, the last date for submission of bids under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) round VII.