Pointing out the difficulty in selling diesel at two different rates at the same petrol pump, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the government is open to suggestions on implementing dual rates provided two different prices does not “lead to black marketing”.
Speaking at the Rajya Sabha, the minister said the government knocked some heads together to see if it is possible to have dual prices of diesel at the same retail outlet (petrol pump).
He said having dual rates for bulk and retail consumers was a “policy decision taken in order to keep diesel subsidy at reasonable levels. He said this while reacting to demands for allowing state road transport corporations to buy subsidised diesel.
Recently, the government introduced market rates for bulk consumers like railways and state road transport corporations, which are over Rs 11 per litre more than the price at which diesel is available at petrol pumps.
However, at petrol pumps there is no differentiation, as consumers, farmers as well as luxuary car owners get diesel at subsidised rates.
Members stated that state public transport corporations were finding it difficult to buy diesel at market rates. Chidambaram said central taxes on petrol and diesel had come down between 2007 and 2012.
Central excise duty on petrol had come down from Rs 14.66 a litre as on March 1, 2007 to Rs 9.46 on September 14, 2012 while the same on diesel had declined from Rs 4.69 a litre to Rs 3.56 per litre.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.