With elections nearing, both the BJP and Congress seem to be resorting to half truths to politicise the sensitive issue of domestic gas supplies to the state in a bid to score over one another.
Sunday saw Union minister of state for petroleum & natural gas, RPN Singh, stating that Gujarat was getting the highest allocation of domestic gas among other states. He said that Centre was giving adequate gas to Gujarat, and it was for the state government to decide the priority of gas supplies.
Leader of Opposition in state assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, too claimed that there was no bias from the Centre against Gujarat in gas supplies. However, what neither of them said was that none of the city gas distribution (CGD) companies in the state, and there are seven of them, are getting any domestic gas. Singh also seemed to have forgotten that gas is a Central subject and state governments have no say in its allocation.
The Congress leaders ignored the fact that CGDs in Mumbai and New Delhi meet bulk of their requirements from domestic gas. It is the other way round for GSPC Gas and other CGDs in the state, which meet their entire demand through imported gas.
The state government responded to the minister by saying that Centre continued to do injustice to Gujarat in gas supplies. State energy minister Saurabh Patel repeated for the umpteenth time that gas prices in the state would fall by as much as 30% if domestic gas is supplied in place of imported gas.
Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference in Ahmedabad on Monday afternoon, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, said that people of Gujarat were paying for Centre’s discrimination towards the state, and assured that he would raise the issue in Parliament.
But, what neither Jaitley nor Patel, who is also minister of state for finance, said was that Gujarat government charges 15% VAT on CNG, the highest in the country. They also didn’t say that CNG price can come down by as much as Rs5 per kg if VAT is removed, like in Delhi and other places.
