Pawar, Alagiri absence freezes EGoM meet on petro prices
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s absence has cast uncertainty on the schedule of the key meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Oil Prices, that is expected to raise those of diesel and cooking gas.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was part of this committee but she has already disengaged herself from government affairs at the Centre, as she is busy forming the new government in West Bengal.
A top finance ministry official told Business Standard: “The EGoM is unlikely to be held in the next week as well. We have not received any signal from the political leadership to fix a schedule.”
According to sources, Pawar is likely to return here only on Sunday evening, for a short while. No one knows when Alagiri will be available in Delhi. Last Sunday, Mukherjee said the EGoM, headed by him, would meet next week. After oil marketing companies raised petrol prices by Rs 5 per litre last Saturday, Mukherjee told a press conference, “Decisions on petrol prices (decontrolled since last June) are taken by oil marketing companies.For other petroleum products like diesel, LPG and kerosene, there is the empowered GoM. We will meet this week.”
Congress party managers want a decision on petro-product rises to be a collective decision of the UPA coalition, ensuring the allies can’t wriggle out of their responsibility for taking harsh economic decisions. Pawar’s presence is also needed since any decision to raise diesel prices would have a major impact on the agriculture sector.
The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council has advised the government to quickly decide on freeing of diesel prices, citing huge losses incurred by oil companies on account of differences between domestic and international prices.