Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said India needs to rationalise the prices of petroleum products while insulating the common man from its effects.
Dedicating the `20,000 crore Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, he said with imports accounting for about 80 per cent of the crude supplies, the spiralling prices of crude in the international markets have put a serious strain on the import bill.
“We need to rationalise prices and at the same time ensure that the poor and needy are shielded from the effects of such a rationalisation,” the Prime Minister said.
State-owned oil companies have not raised diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene for almost a year despite cost of raw material rising by a quarter.
The Prime Minister said in order to insulate the common man from the impact of rising oil prices, the government shouldered sizeable portion of the burden by pricing diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG below their market prices.
“The challenges we face on the energy front are formidable. We need adequate supplies of energy at affordable prices. Domestic sources of crude oil and gas are inadequate to meet the growing demands of our rapidly expanding economy,” the Prime Minister said.