Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri spoke on the price of petrol and diesel in Parliament on Monday. Puri said, “I have data from USA, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Sri Lanka and India. In all those countries, petrol price has increased by 50%, 55%, 58%, 55% in recent days. There has been an increase. Whereas in India it has increased by only 5%.”
On fuel prices, Union Minister HS Puri said, “When we saw that there is a need to provide relief to the consumers, the PM cut the rates on 5th November 2021. We have taken some steps. Also to take some more decisions. We are ready, but 9 states have not done so. Taxation is only one aspect, we have to provide relief to consumers at the point of consumption.”
Government seeks Parliament’s approval for additional expenditure of Rs 1.07 lakh crore
On the other hand, the government on Monday sought Parliament’s approval for additional expenditure of Rs 1.07 lakh crore in the third batch of supplementary demand for grants for the current financial year. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced a statement showing the third and final batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the financial year 2021-22 in the Lok Sabha.
According to the document of the third batch of supplementary demands for grants tabled in the lower house, approval has been sought for a gross additional expenditure of Rs 1.58 lakh crore under this. Of this, Rs 1.07 lakh crore is in the form of net cash expenditure while a provision of Rs 50,946 crore will be made through savings and increased receipts of various ministries and departments.