‘Give subsidy to schools,not oil firms’

The government should use its money on building schools and hospitals rather than subsidising oil companies that are making huge profits because of the grant,Plan panel Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

“The profits that have been shown in the oil companies are largely due to subsidies. We are not supposed to be subsidising the oil companies…we should be paying for schools,education,hospitals and so on,” Ahluwalia said in an interview.

The Left parties,which spearheaded the Bharat Bandh along with the BJP on July 5,had said that oil marketing companies were making huge profits,but the government was still talking about under-recoveries.

The opposition parties had called the Bandh to protest the hike in petrol and diesel rates. On June 25,the government raised petrol,diesel and kerosene prices by Rs 3.