Left wants govt to put on hold move to hike price of gas

Left parties today asked the government to put on hold any move to hike the price of natural gas from RIL's KG basin and hold wider consultations with concerned ministries and the states before taking any decision in the matter.
Asking the government to explain its "hurry" on the matter, Left leaders, including Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) and Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI), told a press conference that the issue should be discussed in Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon Session as any increase in the gas prices would be effective only from April 2014.
Demanding the setting up of a Group of Ministers on the issue which has led to "differences among major Ministries", they claimed the move would lead to "windfall profits" to a corporate house and "a rise in the subsidy burden at least by Rs 1.50 lakh crore annually."

Terming a hike as "completely unjustified", Yechury said it would have serious implications on the power and fertiliser sectors which are major consumers of natural gas, would "cripple the economy, especially agriculture sector, and lead to greater agrarian distress and increase the incidence of farmers' suicides."
In a joint statement, the CPI, CPI(M) and RSP said, "We demand that any price increase should be kept in abeyance and the government should come out with full facts and figures and have a debate with all stakeholders before it pushes ahead with this move."
Dasgupta, who has been lambasting the government over the proposed move for the past few weeks, asked "why is the government in a hurry to pass this proposal? Why is there no GOM (Group of Ministers) on the matter? Why have the states not been consulted on the issue? Why is the calculation (of gas prices) being done in dollar terms?"

With the decline in Rupee, RIL is getting the benefit as it is getting the price close to USD 15 per unit, he claimed, accusing the private oil company of "systematically" reducing production from its KG Basin.