NEW DELHI, May 22 (Agencies): The Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may meet tomorrow to consider raising petrol and diesel prices among other measures to bailout state run firms that have been reeling under unprecedented high crude prices.
With Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum projected to lose Rs 200,000 crore in revenues on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below import cost, industry sources said a hike in the range of Rs 2 to 5 per litre appears on the cards.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on his part neither denied nor confirmed Cabinet being scheduled for tomorrow.
"We are discussing all possible measures to help and protect our public sector oil companies...
Some remedial measures need to be taken (urgently)," he told reporters.
The three firms are currently losing Rs 450 crore in revenues on fuel sales every day.
Petrol is being sold at a loss of Rs 16.34 a litre, diesel at Rs 23.49 per litre, LPG at Rs 305.90 per cylinder loss and kerosene at a discount of Rs 28.72 per litre.
Deora has called a meeting of heads of the oil PSUs tomorrow morning and after that may brief the Cabinet of the financial strain on the companies in view of international crude prices topping 135 dollars a barrel.
"I cannot rule in or rule out anything at this stage," Deora said when asked if petrol and diesel prices hike was an option under consideration.
"We are concerned at the financial health of the PSUs," he said, but asked the consumers not to panic.
"There is no rationing of fuel as has been reported by one newspaper.
We can never resort to such an anti-consumer practice.
I have spoken to BPCL Chairman Ashok Sinha who has categorically denied such a move," he said.
Deora said state-run retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL were under severe financial strain and may have taken some measures to cut cost but fuel rationing was not being resorted to.
"I would like to plead with the public and consumers that there is no such move," he said.
"Government is at work trying to solve the problems being faced by PSUs.
There are some measures that are under discussions." "Our PSUs have done great service to the nation.
Besides making available auto and cooking fuel to every nook and cranny, they have also been selling at a price lower than the cost.
This has caused some constraint and we are concerned about it," he said.
In Asian morning trade today, New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, rose to a high of USD 135.04 a barrel before easing to USD 134.87.
The three firms are faced with a huge liquidity crunch and are borrowing Rs 3,500 crore a month to meet day-to-day expenditure.
Borrowings of the three firms have reached Rs 65,000 crore.
Government's bar on oil firms from raising fuel prices despite cost of raw material (crude oil) doubling to over 135 dollars a barrel, is likely to see the three firms end the current year with a revenue loss of Rs 2,00,000 crore.
Last year, the revenue loss was Rs 77,304.50 crore.
Government makes up for just over half of the under realisation of oil companies on fuel sales through issuance of oil bonds, while 33 per cent of the losses is compensated by companies like ONGC and GAIL.
The rest is to be borne by the retailers.
2 day sadhus national meet to strengthen Ram Sethu movement CHENNAI, May 22 (Agencies): With a view to strengthening its movement against the Rs 2,400 crore Sethusamudram Shipping Canal, involving dredging of the Ram Sethu (Adam's Bridge),the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) will organise a two-day national meeting of 'sadhus' to press the Centre to announce Ram Sethu as a national heritage of historical importance.
VHP international president Ashok Singhal told reporters here today that the meeting, to be held on June 15 and 16 at Haridwar, would also decide on a 'massive agitation' involving 50,000 people, in support of the Ram Sethu movement.
"The belief over Ramar Sethu is centuries-old and has followers not only in India, but all across South East Asia, including Cambodia and Indonesia, among others.
Followers of Lord Ram in these countries rever him as a historical figure," he said.
"The meeting will equivocally demand that the Centre announce Ram Sethu as a national monument," he said while welcoming a recent Supreme Court directive to the Centre on undertaking an archaelogical survey of the monument.
The Ram Sethu has been a bone of contention between the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, which wants the project at any cost, and those opposed to the dredging of it as they claim that the bridge was built by Lord Ram to cross over to Sri Lanka.
The issue had even led to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister making some critical remarks about Lord Ram, wondering if he was a qualified engineer to have constructed a bridge.
The Indian Navy and Coast Guard had also expressed their reservations over the project.
While Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta had said that the project was 'viable' only for small ships, the Coast Guard Director General, Vice Admiral R F Contractor, said there was a possibility of the channel being used by militant groups.
Recalling the Aracheological Survey of India (ASI) affidavit in the Supreme Court doubting the existence of Lord Ram, Singhal claimed that this had resulted in even the Congress getting divided over the project.
Claiming the implementation of the project as a "great risk for India's security," he expressed apprehension that it could also destroy India's thorium deposits in the region.
The project envisages linking the Palk Bay in India and the Gulf of Mannar in Sri Lanka by creating a shipping channel through the shallow seas.
To a query on the current internal security of the nation, Singhal said that the entire country was "in the grip of terrorism." Responding to a query on the recent mandate handed over to the Maoists in Nepal by the people, Singhal said, "it will be another dictatorship, since the Maoists don't believe in democracy." This was the situation in China too, he said.
"The Maoists believe in bullets, not ballots," he added.
Actress, friend under remand for killing production house head MUMBAI, May 22 (Agencies): A Kannada film actress and her boyfriend, arrested for allegedly murdering the creative head of a TV production house and disposing of his body after chopping it to pieces, have been remanded to police custody.
Marrayya Monica Susayraj (27), the actress and her boyfriend of over 18 months, M L Jerome Mathew (25), a naval officer, were produced before the Borovili court today.
The court remanded the duo to police custody upto May 29.
Matthew was brought here from Kochi by the police.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria had yesterday said that the murder of 25-year-old Neeraj Grover was a fallout of a love triangle.
Grover, creative head of Synergy Adlabs, was missing since May 7.
Marrayya, who has acted in four Kannada films, came to Mumbai in March trying to get work in Hindi serials and had also auditioned for the newer version of Mahabharata.
She came in contact with Grover during the audition and both started going around, to which Matthew had objected, police said.
On May 7, Mathew took a flight out of Kochi where he is based and reached Marrayya's place the next morning, where Grover was already present.
An altercation ensued between Mathew and Grover which ended with the latter being allegedly stabbed to death by the naval officer.
Marrayya went to a nearby mall and made a host of purchases which included a few knives, curtain cloth, bed linen and sports bag.
"The couple chopped off the body into pieces, replaced the blood-stained pieces of cloth and packed the body into the bags," Maria had said.
