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Home > Business > PTI > Report

FM may review fertiliser, diesel price hike

March 10, 2003 19:24 IST

Finance Minister Jaswant Singh is expected to take a fresh look on the demand for a rollback of fertiliser and diesel price hike when he replies to Budget discussion in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Senior leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party the allied parties including Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh and Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala have been lending support to the demand for a rollback, but Jaswant Singh has so far been insisting that the hike in fertiliser prices was only marginal ranging from 2-5 per cent and that it would hit only rich and middle class farmers.

He has also gone on record that fertilisers are not used by drought-hit farmers and they are used only in irrigated land. Hence any rollback would affect the entire "tapestry of the budget".

Official sources said Singh had a meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Saturday in which fertilizer issue figured and discussions were on how to resolve the issue.

Official sources said the government would like to be flexible on the issue as political fallout of a 'no rollback' could be adverse.

The government had cut the fertiliser subsidy by Rs 12 per 50 Kg bag of urea and Rs 10 for other fertiliser in a bid to check fertiliser subsidy which stood at a staggering Rs 12,700 crore (Rs 127 billion).


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