New Delhi, July 09: Accusing the UPA government of
"plundering" the common man, the Opposition BJP on Thursday demanded a rollback of hike in prices of petrol and diesel.
"We condemn the government for hastily raising prices of petrol and diesel even as international prices for the crude oil have come down. We demand its immediate rollback," party spokesperson Prakash Javdekar told reporters outside Parliament.
"They (UPA) sought votes during election in the name of aam admi. They have betrayed the people and are indulging in loot and plunder," he added.
The BJP leader also accused the Centre of doing "nothing" over a "drought like situation" prevailing in the country and demanded the government implement a contingency plan if rains do not happen.
"Farmers are suffering because of no rains. Government has done nothing and is simply tormenting the farmers. If rains do not take place, government should implement a contingency plan," Javdekar said.
2,263 new petrol pumps in FY 2010
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada today said that the state-run fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum will set up 2,263 new petrol pumps in the country during current fiscal.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, he said the three oil marketing companies will set up 2,263 new petrol pumps over an above the 35,068 pumps they already own.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has the largest number of petrol pumps at 18,140 while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has 8,539 refuelling stations. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) has 8,389 petrol pumps in the country.
Of the 35,068 petrol pumps owned by the state-run firms, the maximum 4,262 are in Uttar Pradesh while Lakshadweep has
none. Andaman and Nicobar islands have seven petrol pumps.
Tamil Nadu has the second highest number of petrol pumps
at 2,962, followed by 2,921 in Andhra Pradesh, 2,652 in
Punjab, 2,343 in Rajasthan and 2,260 in Karnataka.
To a separate question, Prasada said the three firms have
proposed to set up 14 more LPG bottling plants in the country.
As on April 1, 2009, the three firms were operating 182 LPG
bottling plants with a total bottling capacity of 8.9 million
tonnes per annum.
Of the new bottling plants, four will be in Maharashtra,
two each in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and
one each in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.
The new plants are besides the three under construction
plants at Muzzafarpur in Bihar, Baroda in Gujarat and
Irumpanam in Kerala.
Bureau Report
