Government on Tuesday made a strong case for a hike in domestic petroleum prices with the Indian crude oil basket crossing $60 a barrel but promised all steps to ensure that the burden on the common man would be minimized by considering reduction in duties.Petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told the Lok Sabha that: “We are going through one of the worst crises in international oil prices. We have a panapoly of measures to greatly restrict the impact of spiralling prices”. “We believe in equitable burden sharing. A little bit by the consumer, a substantial chunk by the government and the larger share on shoulders of the oil companies,” Aiyar said thus indicating the possibility of a moderate hike in domestic oil prices.Aiyar countered Opposition arguments that the Centre has done little to protect the interest of the common man. Reeling out statistics, Aiyar said the oil prices shot up by $18 in the last 14 months which was equivalent to the increase over eight year period from 1996 to 2004.Yet the UPA government increased petrol prices by mere Rs 7 as against NDA government’s Rs 16, PDS kerosene by only four paise vis-a-vis NDA regime’s Rs 6.05, diesel by Rs 6 as against NDA’s Rs 15 and LPG by Rs 53 a cylinder as against Rs 145 a cylinder by the BJP-led coalition.He said the UPA government had resorted to only modest increase and oil companies absorbed a sizeable amount despite a whopping 164 per cent rise in crude oil prices, 177 per cent rise in petrol prices, 203 per cent rise in diesel prices, 218 per cent rise in kerosene prices and 108 per cent hike in LPG prices.
