By IANS
New Delhi : Petroleum Minister Murli Deora Thursday informed the Lok Sabha that the government, instructed by ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, was not proposing any increase in fuel prices despite crude oil touching $100 a barrel.
Although crude oil prices have risen by almost 150 percent since the UPA government took office in May 2004, it has passed on only a fifth of the surge in prices to consumers.
The Rs.705-billion under-recovery on sale of transport, cooking and lighting fuels was being shared between the government (by way of issuing oil bonds) and state-owned oil companies.
In a related issue, Deora also told the parliament that the government was committed to the India-Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and that only small issues like the transfer tax needed to be sorted out.