JOIN US Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Gurudas Dasgupta has raised fresh questions about an elevated cost of production of natural gas suggested by the Rangarajan Committee and asked the government to revisit its decision to hike gas prices which was allegedly taken to benefit a corporate house.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Dasgupta said: “If the cost per unit of natural gas is only $2.74 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu), then how did the Rangarajan Committee come to the conclusion that it should be $8.4 per unit to be given to the contractor. Evidently, it is lack of due diligence. The next question that arises is how the Cabinet approved the price almost four times the cost so hurriedly.”
The CPI leader alleged that no government agency had clarified the issue of per unit cost of production in Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL) KG-D6 basin.
He also said that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, while replying to a question by the standing committee, has officially admitted that the cost of production, including levies, worked out to be $2.74 per mmBtu.
He said that even the finance secretary, while deposing before the standing committee on finance, “bluntly stated” that evaluating the cost of production was not their job.
He also sought to know the cost of production for RIL in KG-D6 block and whether the company had submitted any document in this regard.
The government in its reply has said that the cost of production for RIL in KG-D6 block in 2011-12 was $2.48 per mmBtu, excluding levies, and $2.74 per mmBtu including levies.