The owner and manager of Rituraj Hotel in Kolkata have been arrested following a devastating fire that killed 14 people. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered surprise checks of all establishments in the city to ensure fire safety compliance, after the tragedy highlighted serious violations at the hotel. The hotel has been sealed and special committees will be formed to monitor and identify establishments flouting fire safety norms.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Saturday said the government is considering to prices of petroleum products in the next few days.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Monday launched the service, which will be initially available in the national capital and would be extended to other metropolitan cities, state capitals and towns.
The government said on Wednesday that it was considering public sector oil companies' request for hiking security deposit on LPG cylinders from Rs 650 to Rs 1000 but clarified that there was no freeze on issuance of new connections.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today launched the 'Preferred Time LPG Delivery' scheme.
A decision has been taken to gradually initiate Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar based LPG subsidy transfer through the OMCs.
All subsequent cylinders will have a non-subsidised rate that will be fixed every month.
Delhiites will have to shell out more from their pockets for virtually everything from cooking gas to diesel with Delhi government on Monday withdrawing subsidy on LPG and increasing VAT on many items to "generate" additional revenue.
Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir on Friday due to a strike called by an amalgam of trading bodies seeking an increase in the number of subsidised LPG cylinders in the Valley.
They said at least four such cases are being looked into by the anti-terror agency officials.
The cap on cylinders would burden the Centre, which will need to compensate the states for the increased cooking fuel cost.
The decision was taken at a full commission meeting held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath, and communicated to the Union Cabinet, which met to take a call on the matter.
There are about 15.3 crore LPG consumers in the country.
'I wonder if they will keep it up after the elections.' 'I fear they'll start questioning eligibility -- income, age, bank accounts -- and eventually stop the scheme altogether.'
Under pressure from his party, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said the government is considering increasing the quota of subsidised LPG cylinders to 12 per household even as hints were dropped of a one-time hike in diesel and LPG rates
The government will provide five crore LPG connections on concessional rates in the name of women from below poverty line.
All subsidies will be eliminated by March 2018
A day after Election Commission rap, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday said the government has not yet taken any decision on raising cap on supply of subsidised LPG cylinders and the EC would have been informed before announcing any decision.
The government is likely to extend by two more years subsidies on LPG and kerosene while asking the state-run oil firms to bear part of the Rs 14,000 crore under-recoveries due to unchanged prices despite a rise in the cost of raw material.
Minutes after the Union Cabinet approved raising the cap on subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders from nine to 12 per connection in a year, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan questioned the decision, suggesting it was "misdirected subsidy".
The union government is planning to release about 5.5 crore new LPG connections over the next five years, petroleum and natural gas minister Murli Deora said.
The price of non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) was on cut by Rs 21 per cylinder and that of jet fuel (ATF) by a steep 3 per cent on the back of falling international oil rates.
Over 12,450 LPG users have so far voluntarily given up their subsidies, but this accounts for only 0.008 per cent of about 15 crore (150 million) domestic cooking gas consumers in the country.
The seeding of LPG database with Aadhar numbers is above 55 per cent and overall Aadhar penetration is 90 per cent in these districts.
Police said around 15 people were rescued and shifted to Acharya Bhikshu hospital. Of them, seven died and four people, who were critical, have been shifted to Safdarjung hospital. A few more persons are feared trapped under the debris, they said.
1.46 lakh such consumers have voluntarily given up the subsidy.
The recent government decision to restrict supply of subsidised cooking gas cylinders to six per year to each household will see consumption for fuel decline to 4.1 per cent in second half of the fiscal, a report by think-tank CMIE said.
The Tihar jail authorities expect the network, which will carry gas to jail kitchens, to be laid out by April and this will cost about Rs 60 lakh, Director General (Prisons) B K Gupta told reporters. "LPG cylinders are widely used by prisoners during riots in jails and we want to avoid such incidents," he said. During the January 7 jail riots in a Jalandhar prison, the inmates threw LPG cylinders into the fire but luckily, these did not explode.
Rates have been on the upswing since October, 2016.
In a race to woo voters with freebies ahead of the upcoming state assembly elections, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday promised Rs 2,000 per month for women homemakers if his party returns to power.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is to set up three liquefied petroleum gas bottling plants with an investment of Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million) even as it plans to introduce the 5-kg LPG cylinders in the urban areas.
Jet fuel or ATF price on Tuesday was hiked by a steep 8.5 per cent - the second increase in a month, while commercial cooking gas rate was cut by Rs 100 per cylinder in line with divergent trends in international benchmarks. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was increased by 7,728.38 per kilolitre, or 8.5 per cent, in the national capital to Rs 98,508.26 per kl, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Rates, which vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT, have been increased on firming up of global rates that followed four months of decline.
The government also withdrew the five per cent VAT on compressed natural gas besides bringing back the VAT for tea, coffee and cocoa to five per cent from the proposed 12.5 per cent.
This is the second straight increase in jet fuel rates in as many months.
Rinku Singh speaks in a matter of fact manner, just like his evening job under arc-lights -- smoke the bowlers to all parts of the park and dip the crowd in delirium.
Aviation turbine fuel to now cost more.
In order to end use of kerosene -- which often does not reach the intended beneficiaries -- the Delhi government on Tuesday launched an ambitious scheme, where about 3.5 lakh BPL and poor families will get free LPG cylinders and gas stoves.
The market responded positively to the Q1 results of oil marketing companies (OMCs), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) despite numbers being weaker than consensus. BPCL's reported gross refining margin (GRM) was in line at $7.9 per barrel (bbl) in Q1FY25, which implies marketing margin stood at Rs 4.8 per litre. Standalone profit after tax or PAT at Rs 3,000 crore was down versus consensus due to under-recoveries in LPG business.
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