Times of India ND 14/01/2009 ae .. P22 Oil sector employees unfairly accused This refers to the editorial ‘Over A Barrel’ (Jan 10). The strike was not a knee-jerk reaction. The government had been given. enough time for wage settlement. The immediate cause of the strike was that _ the salaries for the oil sector employees: were lower than those recommended - by the Justice M ! Rao committee. The increments and HRA approved by the cabinet are recommended for a downward revision, Moreover the portrayal of the oilrmen as ‘deshdrohis’ if a section of the ‘ media is deplorable. The oilmen work in. hazardous environments and have - even sacrificed their lives in incidents such as the offshore platform fire tragedy. It is high time the government came out with a white paper on the" subject and the mediahad adebateon its name-calling and the wrongly projected emoluments of the officers. . _ RGanesh, via e-MaiL ‘We wart your views and comments, Pisase SMS MYWOKCE your comments and nama to 58888, Or email mytimesmyvelcedtimesgrous.com with Editor, Delhl in the subject line. Or writa to us at My Times, My Voice c/o Edit Page Editor, The Times of india, 7 Bahadur Shah Zatar Marg, New Delhi 110002, :Indian Express ND 1410112009 P-17 “Deora’s fuel Call: Price cut or decontrol. “ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13 IN THE wake of recent strikes by oil and trans- port sectors, petroleum minister Murli Deora would once again push for decontrolling pric- ing of auto fuels, Butif that does nat happen, ex- - pect a hefty cut in prices of petrol, diesel and do- . mestic cooking gas LPG on Thursday, At the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), Deora is likely to sup- _ port freeing auto fuel pricing from administrative contro] so that retailers of private sector com- panies could open their shop, and help the country to avoid the dryouts that were witnessed last week following an indefinite strike by the Oil Sector Officers Association. Moreover, leav- ing pricing to market forces would save the gov- ernment from getting dragged into strikes for - cuts in dicsel prices as what the All-India Mo- tor Transport Congress had asked when stop- ping goods movement. Transporters had de- manded that diesel prices be loweredbyRs10a_ litre to make their business viable, In case the price decontrol does not muster CCPA support, Deora's second optionis cutting petrol price by Rs 5 a litre, diesel by Rs 2a litre and domestic LPG by Rs 25 a cylinder, sources said, State-run oil marketing companies are cur- rently earning Rs 9.70 on a litre of petrol, Rs 3.70 on diesel, but loosing Rs 31.70 per LPG cylin- der and Rs 11.69 on every litre of kerosene. “There is also.a proposal for freeing the retail fuel prices from administrative control after a mechanism to compensate for the losses on LPG and kerosene is devised,” he said, One op- tion is to mop up more money for subsidiSing LPG and kerosene by increasing excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1 per litre, At the last CCPA meeting on December 5, 2008, the gov- ernment opted for acut of Rs5 per litre in petrol price and Rs 2 per litre in diesel even though the first option before it was that petrol and diesel . prices “may be freed, that is, removed from gov- ernment control with immediate effect”,Hindustan Times ND 14- Jan-09 p-23 Move to ease SEZ, EOU rules | Relianee could gain'‘from proposal to permit petro good sales in home market Anupama Airy New Delhi, January 13 THE GOVERNMENT is planning to change rules related to foreign grade policy and also special economic zones (SEZs) that would enable refineries set Up as export-oriented units or as part ‘of SEZs to sell petroleum products in - domestic markets without paying ex- tra taxes or duties.’ In its communiqué dated January 9, the Petroleum Ministry has asked the ministries of finance and ‘commerce which decide on these matters to expe- dite action on this. An immediate beneficiary of this “move would be Reliance Industries Ltd . (RIL), which is at present the only com- pany to have a refinery in the SEZ as also as an EOU. In the current market, Reliance is obliged to export all its - products despite squeezed conditions. However, if the proposal comes through, Reliance can sell it products only to public sector oil companies -— iOC, BPCL and HPCL. « iL PUMPS UP FOR PRICE FREEDOM ; tukesh Ambani-controtled tiL) has asked the govern- ent to free retail fuel prices ‘om administrative con- prices is much more critical than a statement (on fuel i - price cuts),” he told reporters } on the sidelines of the i _ PetroTech conference. He said the private sector can } now reopen petrol pumps i (after international fuel prices fell to four-year lows). Reliance currently has 1500-odd: petrol pumps in the country, which it shut last year when crude prices touched a high but local firms were hit by government-suppressed. retail prices. _ An official, who did not want to be named, said that to allow Reliance to sell the production from its EOU/SEZ refineries at its petrol pumps, the government will have to give a spe- cial permission. “This would mean that the entire sales of petrol and diesel by Reliance be counted as foreign exchange earn- ings, even if the realisation is in Indi- ; ‘an rupees. This seems unlikely at the HTC / New Delhi, § moment,” he said. . anupama.airy@hindustantimes.com