The Union Petroleum Minister has requested the employees of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and a Karnataka Minister to give up subsidy on LPG cylinder.
Inaugurating the polypropylene unit of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in Mangaluru on Sunday, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (independent charge), said the LPG customer in the country uses 6-7 subsidised LPG cylinders a year. This comes to around ₹1,500 a year. This will help provide LPG connection to a poor person, who otherwise is dependent on other energy sources.
Employees of many corporates, including Tata Group and Kotak Mahindra Bank, and celebrities like Lata Mangeshkar and Ranabir Kapoor have given up their subsidies on LPG cylinder. He sought the same cooperation from the employees of MRPL also.
Pradhan also requested the Karnataka Youth Services Minister, Abhayachandra Jain, who was present on the occasion, to give up subsidy on LPG cylinder. When there was no reply from Jain, he said even the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Ashok Chavan, and the senior Congress leader, Mallikarjuna Kharge, have agreed to give up the subsidies on LPG cylinder.
Highlighting the profile of Mangaluru city, he said it has four malls with multiplexes. A weekend visit to the malls will cost around ₹1,200-1,500. He asked them to consider this as another weekend added in a year.
The Member of Parliament from Mangaluru, Nalin Kumar Kateel; former Karnataka Ministers, Krishna Palemar and Nagaraja Shetty; former Mayor of Mangaluru, Ganesh Hosabettu; gave up subsidy on LPG cylinders on the occasion.
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The Minister said that the Government wants to take the advantage of fall in the prices of crude oil in the global market, and it is looking at filling the underground oil caverns set up by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd (ISPRL) in Mangaluru soon.
The decline in oil prices is because of the changing geo-politics. Now oil market is buyers’ market. Because of the geo-polity, oil price is in declining phase. It suits India, he added.