Rs 14,000cr Spent On Kerosene Subsidies, Says Baalu

A sum of Rs 14,280 crore was spent on subsidising kerosene in the past three years, petroleum minister T R Baalu informed the Lok Sabha yesterday.

Although the domestic sale price of kerosene was increased from Rs 3.69 per litre in 1995-96 to Rs 5.18 per litre in 1996-97, the subsidy bill in the last financial year increased to Rs 6,350 crore from Rs 4,190 crore a year ago.

Aviation: The government is likely to finalise a comprehensive national policy on civil aviation within three months, minister of state for civil aviation Jayanthi Natarajan said. There was no proposal to change foreign equity participation in the domestic air transport policy already approved by the government, she added.

Russia: A part of $830 million Russian credit for defence supplies, signed in 1992, was still unutilised, minister of state for defence NVN Somu said.

Anti-missile: The government has received a proposal for developing an integrated anti-missile defence programme, Somu said, while declining to give details in the interest of national security.

Seafood ban: RSP member Prem Chandran yesterday requested the commerce ministry to make efforts for removal of the ban on seafood exports imposed by European countries. He said the ban was imposed ever since India started exporting finished products while earlier it was sending out raw products. He said the price of prawn had come down in Kerala due to the ban and expressed concern that even the seafood which had been exported to Europe might be sent back.

Bill on coal mining: The government will introduce a bill to allow Indian companies to mine coal and lignite without the captive consumption restriction, the Rajya Sabha was informed yesterday. Minister of state for coal Kanti Singh said the proposed bill seeks to amend Section 3 of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act 1973 by allowing Indian companies in the public and private sector to mine coal and lignite.

without the existing restriction of mining for captive consumption.

Dues: Kanti singh said power utilities and state electricity boards (SEBs) owed a total of Rs 3127.98 crore to coal companies as on June 30 this year.

Stating that Rs 1501.53 crore of the total were undisputed, the minister said Coal India had been advised to supply coal to power utilities only against advance payment or letter of credit.

Divestment deferred: The government has decided to defer for the present, disinvestment in four PSUs the ONGC, Oil India Ltd, Manganese Ore India Ltd and Rites, the industry minister informed the Rajya Sabha yesterday.

SSIs: Industry minister Murasoli Maran yesterday assured the Rajya Sabha that the small-scale industry (SSI) will not be affected during the current multilateral negotiations for removing quantitative restrictions on imports.

He said precautions were being taken to ensure that foreign companies do not encroach areas reserved for the small-scale industry when they get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Power plants: As many as 56 thermal power plants across the country have been included in the renovation and modernisation programme to generate additional power, minister of state for power Y K Alagh, informed the Rajya Sabha yesterday.

Responding to supplementaries during question hour, he said the projects, estimated to cost Rs 2,890 crore, would help generate additional 1500 mw of power.