The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of the petroleum regulatory board. The Petroleum Regulatory Board Bill, 2002, will be introduced in Parliament but till the time the bill is passed and the regulator is set up, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas will function as the regulator.
Talking to reporters, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said that since the bill is an important one it would be referred to the standing committee. The regulatory board will regulate the downstream oil refining and marketing sector while the incumbent directorate general of hydrocarbon will function as regulator for the upstream oil exploration and production.
The Cabinet also announced the formal closure of the Sankhya Vahini India Limited. The Cabinet had in January 2002 approved a proposal for formation of Sankhya Vahini India Ltd, a joint venture company of the then department of telecom services, IUNET (a subsidiary of Carnegic Mellon University) of Pittsburgh, USA, Department of Electronics and some educational institutions in India. Subsequently IUNET pulled out of the project and the joint venture was abandoned.
Mahajan also added that the Cabinet at its meeting approved the grant of Chennai and Kochi as additional points of call to the designated airline of Kuwait (Kuwait Airline). The cabinet approved Cairo as an additional ‘beyond point’ of call for the designated airlines of India with full fifth freedom rights.