The state-owned petroleum monopolist had recently hiked the prices of petroleum products, making petrol, diesel and kerosene dearer by Rs 3 per liter and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dearer by Rs 75 per cylinder (14.2 kg), to bring down its loss amid rising price of fossil fuel in international market.[break]
A high-level source at NOC told Republica that minister Mahato, Minister of State for Commerce and Supplies Saroj Kumar Yadav, leaders of different political parties and journalists are among the regular beneficiaries of NOC´s free diesel and petrol.
“We have been compelled to distribute free coupons for over 1,000 liters of diesel and petrol on the pressure from influential persons,” the source said, adding that NOC has also been compelled to hire over 250 workers on daily wage basis for the last three years.
Speaking at a meeting of Public Accounts of Committee of parliament Sunday, NOC managing director Digambar Jha also revealed that NOC was also providing free fuel to Minister Mahato during his visits to districts. Jha said overhead cost per liter of fuel hovers around Rs 0.50, thanks to rise in salary of staffers every year. NOC had spent over Rs 480 million for overhead cost last year.
During the meeting, lawmakers strongly objected to rising administrative cost due to ´mismanagement and anomalies´ in NOC. They urged the corporation to work out measures to bring down the increasing administrative cost to reduce its loss instead of opting for price hike.
“Though we can´t control the impact of price rise in international market, we can resist price hike by lowering administrative costs,” lawmaker Prakash Chandra Lohani said, adding, “Rising administrative costs means corruption is rampant within the fuel monopolist.”
Lawmaker Dhan Raj Gurung also urged the government to come up with special act to govern the petroleum sector, which is worth billions of rupees, to end the anomalies and corruption in NOC that is still running under Company Act.
Saroj Pandey, president of Petroleum Dealers´ Association, stressed on the need for a thorough investigation into NOC´s overhead costs which has been growing out of proportion for the last few years.
Purushottam Ojha, secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS), informed lawmakers that the ministry was reintroducing the Petroleum Act, which was returned back by the parliament three years back. “We are soon forwarding the act to parliament as it envisages opening the sector for private sector and allowing import from multiple suppliers,” Ojha added.
PAC had summoned officials of MoCS and NOC and representatives of consumer right groups and dealers of petroleum products to discuss on the recent hike in fuel prices by NOC.
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