Petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily, Reliance
Industries Ltd. chief Mukesh Ambani, former Union minister Murli Deora and
retired director general of hydrocarbons VK Sibal were on Wednesday named in an
FIR by anti-corruption branch of Delhi government in the Reliance gas price
issue.
Names of Moily, Ambani, Deora and Sibal figured in
the FIR, sources told PTI.
Kejriwal on Wednesday wrote a letter to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to keep in abeyance decision to hike
gas price from April 1 till the probe in the case is completed.
The development comes a day after Kejriwal directed
the ACB to register an FIR against Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman
Ambani, Moily, Deora and former director general of hydrocarbons VK Sibal for
increasing the price of natural gas produced in India. The increase will cost
the country Rs. 54,000 crore per year.
Read: Now, Delhi CM Kejriwal goes after Mukesh
Ambani, Moily over gas; orders prob
Kejriwal’s move followed a complaint by former
cabinet secretary TSR Subramaniam, former navy chief Admiral RH Tahiliani,
former revenue secretary EAS Sarma and Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal,
which alleged that ministers and bureaucrats, in collusion with RIL, increased
gas prices to give the company undue benefits of Rs. 1.2 lakh crore.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had, in
June last year, approved a gas pricing formula fixed by a committee headed by
former RBI governor C Rangarajan. According to this formula, gas prices in
India will rise from $4.2 per unit to $8.4 per unit from April 1 this year.
PSUs like ONGC and OIL produce 70% of India’s gas
and so, will get the lion’s share of the benefits accruing from the higher gas
prices. RIL’s KG-D6 block accounts for 15% of India’s gas production.
“The Delhi government’s direction to order the registration
of an FIR in relation to the union cabinet’s decision to revise the price of
gas is indeed shocking,” RIL said in a statement. “We deny these irresponsible
allegations and propose to resort to available legal remedies to protect our
reputation and preserve the pioneering efforts and investment made by Reliance
so far.”
According to Moily, the higher price is necessary to
attract more domestic and foreign investment in India’s oil and gas sector. “If
we can import gas at $12-16 per unit, what’s wrong with paying half that price
to domestic producers?” he had told HT in a recent interview.
But experts pointed that gas prices, unlike oil
prices, vary widely throughout the world. In the US, it is available at $4.5 to
$5 per unit.
“RIL’s partner Niko has a 25-year contract with the
Bangladesh government to supply gas at $2.34 per unit,” Kejriwal said and
questioned the role of the Congress-led UPA government in the decision as well
as the BJP’s silence.
The logic: if companies can produce gas at lower
prices elsewhere, it can also be done in India.
“In case this price hike is allowed to take place,
it will make the life of the common man miserable since it will have a
cascading effect on prices of transportation, domestic gas and even
electricity,” Kejriwal said.
Reacting to the charge, Moily said: “I think I
should sympathise with his ignorance. He should know how the government
functions… how these things are done. There should be a system for fixing
prices. Nothing is done without expert advice. If he (Kejriwal) can give some
money, we will be very happy to reduce the prices.”
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