Centre won't cut fuel price now, says Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Hyderabad: Union law and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday ruled out reduction in excise duty to bring down rising fuel prices. Addressing a press conference here, Mr Prasad said the NDA government is not interested in pursuing such “short-term relief measures” but is working on a “long-term solution”, which will be announced soon to check the volatility of prices based on fluctuating international crude prices.

He said the Centre is earning huge revenues on the excise duty which is being spent on the welfare of the poor and to create world-class infrastructure.  He said the 19-day halt in daily price revision before the recent Karnataka polls was just a “coincidence” and that the Centre had no role in it.

“Some people are talking about 19-day halt in daily revision of petrol prices before Karnataka polls. We want to make it clear that the Centre has no role to play in fixation of prices after fuel prices were deregulated during UPA regime. It’s the discretion of oil marketing companies to revise prices every day based on international crude prices. This is because 87 per cent of Indian fuel needs are met through crude exports from other countries,” the minister remarked.