PM okays APM dismantling schedule
The Prime Minister on Thursday approved the dismantling of the Administered Price Mechanism from April 1, 2002 putting an end to the speculation that the process could be delayed.
The new regime will see free prices being fixed by marketing companies for petrol and diesel while the issue of subsidies on kerosene and LPG will be finalised by finance minister,Yashwant Sinha in his Budget 2002-03
Since both petrol and diesel are currently ruling higher than import parity prices, the final prices of these two auto-fuels is likely to be reduced once the sector is decontrolled.
Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said he is happy at the decision to go by the schedule. There was no doubt that the dismantling of APM would take place on time. He said that the main issues have been discussed and the budgetary issues will be dealt with by the finance minister in the Budget.
The government is expected to revise duties on some of the petro products.
However, the revised duties may come into effect only with the dismantling as the finance ministry had recently imposed a 90 per cent duty on petrol.
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