Kolkata, August 03: The Left MPs on Sunday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to see that the natural gas reserves, including the KG basin, were not appropriated as family property, saying the natural asset and the interests of the economy cannot be “held hostage” to the benevolence and mercy of some “private players”.
“We strongly believe that the Centre’s firm assertion declaring the country’s natural gas reserves, including the gas of KG basin, as national asset should be followed up by appropriate executive action on a proper distribution mechanism to make the gas available to priority sectors in the country,” all 30 MPs of the Left parties said in a letter to the Prime Minister.
Elaborating on the text of the letter, CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury told reporters here that the regional balance in gas distribution should also be ensured through a national gas grid as proposed in the budget.
The pricing of gas should also be based on rational and a transparent formulation, Mr. Yechury said.
“As gas is being produced in our own soil, there is absolutely no justification of pricing it on the basis of linkage with international price of an altogether different product like crude oil as has been done at present by fixing the gas price at US dollar 4.32 per MMBTU”.
–PTI