Emphasising that the money involved in giving food subsidy should be treated as high priority, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday said the subsidy should not be linked with fiscal deficit.

“The money involved in food subsidy can be treated as high priority and should not be linked with fiscal deficit. The food subsidy bill can be met. I see no merit in subsidising diesel. We can't subsidise petrol and fertilizers and these are the subsidies that we need to get rid of,” Ahluwalia said at a panel discussion at IIT, Delhi.