Author: Amitav Ranjan
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 4, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/305066.html
Introduction: When the issue rocked Parliament,
Ministry wrote to Gail to withdraw its earlier letter clearing supply to KICC,
owned by Baalu's son
The Petroleum Ministry had restored gas supply
in January to King India Chemicals Corp-one of the two firms for which Union
Shipping and Surface Transport Minister T R Baalu was pulling strings-but
it quietly withdrew the order last Monday after the Opposition badgered the
government on misuse of office.
While a din was being raised for the third
consecutive day in Parliament on April 28, Under Secretary K K Sharma of the
Petroleum Ministry wrote to GAIL (India) Ltd's CMD that the letter dated January
4 asking GAIL to supply natural gas to KICC "is hereby withdrawn".
Sharma quoted a February 19 order by Madras
High Court on writ appeals which set aside the previous single-judge order
of reinstating the supply to KICC. As per the new order, both KICC and Kings
India Power Corp would have to submit afresh their plea for gas allocation.
"As per the directions of the Court, the fresh representations from the
petitions would be considered separately," wrote Sharma.
The ministry would "examine the representation
on its own merits and pass appropriate orders in accordance with the law,"
he adds.
Interestingly, the ministry's letter reinstating
the gas supply and last Monday's letter rescinding it were issued without
consulting state-run gas transporting and marketing company GAIL even though
it was asked on April 23 to submit a report within a week.
Also, the letters do not find any mention
in Petroleum Minister Murli Deora's support to Road Transport & Highways
Minister Baalu in Parliament on April 30. Deora talked of his meeting with
Baalu and the "discussion held in Prime Minister's Office to ascertain
the status" of the cancellation by the previous NDA government in January
2004.
Deora claimed that the PMO had not issued
any order or any instructions to help the company and "not a single cubic
metre gas has been supplied to the companies". Baalu was pushing the
requests of his sons' firms -KICC's for 10,000 standard cubic metres of gas
per day and KIPC's for allocation of 0.45 million SCMD.
Their demand was for subsidised gas sold at
administered price of $1.96 per million British thermal units whereas the
market price is anywhere between $6 and $16 per mBtu