ETHANOL-DOPED PETROL MANDATORY IN 9 STATES AND 4 UTs FROM JANUARY
1, 2003
NATIONAL
LAUNCH OF 5 Kg. LPG CYLINDERS FROM SHIMLA
CONSULTATIVE
COMMITTEE PRAISE PERFORMANCE OF OIL PSUs
Shri Ram Naik, Minister
of Petroleum & Natural Gas, has announced that the Government
has decided that the sale of 5 per cent ethanol-doped petrol i.e.
"Gasohol" would be mandatory in 9 States and 4 Union Territories
from 1st January, 2003. Speaking at the meeting of
Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry,
here last evening, Shri Naik said that this significant decision
is part of the Government’s efforts to reduce the oil import dependency.
It would also benefit sugarcane growers in these States and Union
Territories which form part of the first phase of introducing
"Gasohol" throughout the country. These States are Uttar Pradesh,
Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh and Tamilnadu and the UTs are Chandigarh, Daman &
Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Pondicherry. The rest of the
country would be covered in second phase.
Shri Naik also informed
the members that to facilitate use of LPG by people in the hills,
far-flung areas and by the economically weaker sections of the
society, 5 Kg. LPG cylinder is being launched on 16th
August, 2002 from Shimla. This special gift of the oil industry
PSUs on the occasion of the Independence Day would not only facilitate
easier transportation as the conventional cylinder weighs about
30 Kgs., but also come cheaper. The deposit for a 5 Kg. cylinder
would be Rs. 350/- as compared to Rs. 700 for 14.2 kg. cylinder.
Similarly, the 5 Kg. cylinder refill would cost less than Rs.
100/- as against about Rs. 250/- per cylinder for a 14.2 Kg. cylinder.
Discussing the performance
of Oil PSUs during 2001-02, the Members appreciated the efforts
of oil PSUs in maintaining their track record of good performance.
The 12 PSUs under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
together recorded profit-after tax of Rs. 12,749.53 crore as against
the paid up capital of Rs. 5,204 crore during this period. The
profit-after tax was Rs. 11,824.87 crore in the previous year.
The following Members
of the Committee attended the meeting:
S/Shri Laxman Seth,
M.H. Gavit, Shibu Soren, Jai Prakash, K.K. Kaliappan, Ram Sajivan,
Lal Bihari Tiwari, Jaswant Singh Bishnoi, Dr. Laxminarayan Pandey,
Manibhai R. Chaudhari, Prof. Rasa Singh Rawat, Shrichand Kriplani,
Ram Shakal, Ram Singh Kaswan, N..H. Diwathe, Kishan Singh Sangwan,
Col. D.R. Shandil, Dr. Sushil Kumar Indora, Zora Singh Mann, Prasanna
Acharaya, Prakash Paranjape, Ram Jeevan Singh, Dr. (Smt.) Sudha
Yadav, Shyam Bihari Mishra and Harpal Singh Sathi from Lok Sabha.
S/Shri N.R. Dasari,
Prof. Ram Deo Bhandari, A. Vijaya Raghavan, Dr. Arun Kumar Sharma,
R.N. Arya, Prof. Ram Bakhsh Singh Verma, Amar Singh, Satish Pradhan,
and Ram Nath Kobind from Rajya Sabha.
Shri Santosh Kumar
Gangwar, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri
B.K. Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural
Gas, and Shri Naresh Narad, Special Secretary in the Ministry
also attended the meeting. In addition senior officers of the
Ministry, CMDs and other senior officers of Oil PSUs attended
the meeting.
