Noisy scenes in RS as govt admits inc revenue on petroproducts sale

New Delhi, Aug 1 (UNI) The Rajya Sabha witnessed noisy scenes today during the Question Hour with the opposition attacking Petroleum Minister Murli Deora for not giving a clear answer on the profit of the public sector and private Oil companies as well as the additional revenue generated by the government due to ad valorem system of taxation on oil sales.

Mr Deora came under sharp criticism when he declined to give a clear picture of the profits generated on the sale of petroleum products by PSUs. On being repeatedly questioned by the opposition members, he said that the government had to increase in the prices of petrol and diesel and issue Special Oil Bonds worth Rs 28,000 crore to oil companies as they could not afford the rise in the international prices of crude from 25 US dollars a barrel a few years ago to the current price of 70 US dollars per barrel.

Annoyed with the dilatory answer, Vijaykumar Rupani (BJP) accused the minister of not giving a proper reply to his question and not coming prepared with facts. On the insistance of the member about the profits of oil companies, Mr Deora said that the oil companies like Indian Oil Company and ONGC were in fact were incurring losses.

However, he could not give the exact figures.

Pointing out that since Mr Deora, in his written reply, had admitted that the customs duties, excise duties and sales tax comprised 51 percent of the total retail price of petrol and 31 percent in case of diesel, CPI(M) MP Brinda Karat said she wanted to know the amount of incremental revenue generated by the government on the sale of petroleum products under the ad valorem system of taxation.

Initially the minister was hesistant on answering the supplementary, forcing Ms Karat, Amar Singh (SP) and BJP leaders Venkaiah Naidu, Ravi Shanker Prasad and others to vociferously demand a clear answer on the subject.

Ultimately, Mr Deora admitted that due to ad valorem system of taxation, the government revenue on petroleum products had increased from Rs 77,692 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 84,703 crore in 2005-06.

On this, a BJP member asked that if the government was generating additional revenue on petroleum prices, why was it not giving relief to the people by subsidising the price as people were suffering due to hiked prices of petrol and diesel.

Mr Venkaiah Naidu demanded a short duration discussion on the subject as the members were not satisfied with the government's response. On this demand, Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat asked him to give a prior notice to this effect to the chair.

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