Manjunath murder: ‘pricing is key’

A “possible alternative’’, said Aiyar, was to provide an income support system under which cash or coupons of Rs 50 per month is distributed by the elected gram panchayat to the intended beneficiaries at the gram sabha to make up for the subsidy elimination.

The other possibility was to gradually eliminate the subsidy — currently at Rs 11-12 per litre — with dual pricing of kerosene.

While lauding the oil companies for taking measures to curb kerosene diversion, Aiyar said: ‘‘There can be no effective policing or prosecution without the active cooperation of state governments. However, few state governments are willing to acknowledge this, let alone rectify it, leaving to some suspicion of a possible nexus between politically influential elements and the growing mafia in the adulteration business.”