- Bribe Hotline
- 12 years ago
- 1880 views
How can we Indians know real cost in which Petroleum & Natural Gas could be provided to us?
When near by countries like Pakistan,Bangladesh have half price for Petroleum & Natural Gas.We Indians wish to know why in India the cost is double and also if there is corruption in The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.How can we Indians raise voice against this?Recent Reports shows like this : Let's try some simple arithmetic. International crude oil prices are hovering around US$ 112.5 per barrel. That translates to about Rs 5,085 per barrel. Each barrel contains about 158.76 litres. So, effectively crude oil costs Rs 32 per litre. Now, add the cost of refining it to petrol or diesel. According to an oil company official, the refining cost is about 52 paise per litre. Add about Rs 6 as capital costs for the refinery. Then there's the cost of transportation (Rs 6) and dealer's commission (Rs 1.05). So, adding all that, the price of petrol comes to about Rs 45.6 per litre. But how much are we actually paying for petrol? Rs 68.3 in Mumbai, Rs 63.4 in New Delhi, Rs 71 in Bangalore!
Why are we paying so much more and to whom? The answer is tax. Not many are aware about the huge quantum of central and state government taxes and duties levied on fuel prices. In some states the tax component is pretty close to 50%. To add to that, these taxes are levied as a percentage of the basic price of the fuel and aren't fixed per litre. That means rising fuel prices only add more to the government's kitty. But all we hear about are the huge subsidies and the bleeding OMCs.
An optimal solution at the moment would be to reduce the tax burden on fuels. But neither the central government nor the state governments have shown any willingness to budge one bit.
I am here to start and a revolt against this corruption but how?How to awake general public this fact?