No question of diesel price hike: Moily

Jaipur: Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Saturday ruled out any roll back on Diesel price hike, saying that bulk consumers like Railways will have to find their own budget to buy the fuel at market price.

“No, no, there is no question of roll back,” Moily, who is here to attend the Congress brainstorming session, told reporters.
Moily said diesel and petrol had been deregulated by the BJP-led NDA government in 2002, but the UPA government had continues to subsidise diesel, the nation’s most consumed fuel.

“This (deregulation) has been going on even during the days of NDA,” he said. “(There were demands that) there should be deregulation of diesel and this is the only commodity where we have the regulations.”
Asked about the impact of the decision on Railways, Moily said it will “largely” have no impact as bulk buyers purchase other inputs and fuels at commercial rates.

“They are all running commercially and ultimately they have to find their own budget,” he said.

Railways buy 2.428 million tonnes of diesel annually and will have to shell out Rs 2,727 crore more for buying the fuel at market price. State transport undertakings would have to shell out an additional Rs 2,462 crore for buying 2.192 million tonnes of diesel at market price.

Defence, the third largest bulk buyer, would pay an additional Rs 299 crore for purchase of their annual 267,000 tonnes of diesel.