Pranab tells petrol price home truths

(From left) Amit Mitra, Pranab Mukherjee and Kaushik Basu at the 7th Keshab Chandra Basu Endowment Lecture at West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Calcutta on Saturday. Picture by Sayantan Ghosh Calcutta, Nov. 5: Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today stressed that the Trinamul Congress was party to the decision to decontrol petrol prices but added that the ally’s concerns were “legitimate” and had been “taken note of”. He appeared to defend the latest petrol price hike and reminded state governments that their share of the taxes on petrol is higher than that of the Centre. Mukherjee was speaking a day after Mamata Banerjee, annoyed at the latest hike, warned of a pullout from the UPA government if it did not listen to her party. His comments came amid hints from the Congress in Delhi that it favours a rethink on the decontrol of petrol price — a policy the Prime Minister had defended yesterday and the reach of which he wanted to widen. ( ) Without naming Mamata, Mukherjee said: “The decision to deregulate petrol prices was taken at a cabinet meeting on June 28, 2010, where all parties were present. It hasn’t happened now.” Obliquely alluding to Mamata’s complaint that the Centre does not listen to her party, Mukherjee said one option the allies have is to use the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) to express their views on critical issues. But, he added, the allies often stay away from the meetings. “Representatives of the coalition partners in the cabinet are members of the EGoM. Sometimes they attend the meetings, sometimes they don’t,” Mukherjee said. He pointed out that apart from their own taxes on petrol, the states together get a one-third share of the central tax collections on the fuel. “In reality, the states’ share of the taxes is more.” Of the amount the Centre passes on to the states, Bengal’s share is seven per cent, government sources said. Additionally, the state earns Rs 15.13 per litre from its own sales tax and cess. Mukherjee, speaking at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, appeared to defend the hike. “Oil companies had adequate reason to hike the prices. The combined loss of BPCL and HPCL from April to September is around Rs 12,000 crore. Indian Oil is also in the red. If oil companies are in the red, will they be in a position to raise resources from the market? Their financial position is such that they won’t be able to import.” Mukherjee, however, added that Trinamul had a “legitimate” grievance. “When people are hit, they won’t listen to economic reasons. Their (Trinamul’s) concern is quite legitimate and they will take it up with the Prime Minister. The protests have been taken note of,” he said. A Trinamul Union minister, however, said it was not enough to say that “we have a legitimate grievance”. “We may be attending cabinet meetings but nobody listens to us. The Congress ministers bulldoze us and ignore all our protests. So what is the point in saying we were present at a certain meeting?” However, the decontrol decision was taken at a time the cabinet minister from Trinamul was Mamata herself. The Trinamul leader also argued that the Centre was not doing Bengal a “favour” by giving it a share of the taxes. “That is our due. Our main concern is the problems the masses face when there is a fuel price hike. The Centre has to intervene and stop that.” He claimed that despite the EGoM meetings, there is no coordination between the Congress and its allies. “Were we consulted before any of the fuel price hikes? This is all a sham. We shall tell the Prime Minister about all this when we meet him in a few days.” Trinamul sources indicated the meeting might take place on November 8.