Link prices of petrol, global crude oil: Digvijay Singh
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, a close confidant of Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, is critical of the current petrol pricing polic. He believes that the petroleum prices should be linked to the international prices of crude oil and says the government had no role in raising prices of petrol.
Hitting out at the Oil Marketing companies (OMCs) for their “failure” Digvijay Singh speaking to Business Standard said that “petrol prices should reflect the changes in international prices of crude rather than wait for government to tell them (OMC) what to do regarding pricing”.
The steep hike of Rs 7.50 of petrol by OMCs, got the UPA government a lot of flak not just from the Opposition but from its own Congress leaders and UPA allies. The TMC went to the extent of leading a protest march against the hike. That international crude prices had fallen but domestic petrol prices continued to remain high, also was severely criticised not just by the opposition, but intenrally in the Congress, most notably at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting yesterday..
Without mincing any words Digvijay Singh says, “When petrol was deregulated the prices should have been linked to the international prices of crude on a daily basis. That’s the norm the world over.” Viewing it as a failure of the PSUs which are involved in the marketing and distribution of petrol and not the government Singh says, “It’s a failure of the OMCs.” This has resulted in Singh’s view in a sudden spurt in prices, (Rs 7.50) rather than it reflecting a gradual rise. It was only after there was a backlash against the hike and on government prompting were petrol prices rolled back by Rs two.
Singh believes that the OMCs should be varying petrol prices according to the changes in international prices on a day to day basis, rather than wait for the government to tell them what to do regarding pricing.
Rejecting the opposition posed by the allies to any hike in petrol prices Singh does some plain speaking. “When petrol prices were deregulated in June 2010, the allies did not oppose the decision then.”