LAHORE: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has rejected a summary of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) for increasing petroleum prices from about Rs6 to Rs7 per litre.
The news was announced by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication, Dr Shahbaz Gill, in a tweet uploaded on Sunday. “OGRA proposed to increase the price of petroleum products from about Rs6-7 per litre. Prime Minister Imran Khan did not accept this proposal. There has been no increase in the prices of petroleum products. Despite the continuous rise in the prices of petroleum products in the world market, the prime minister did not allow it,” he wrote, along with a picture of the summary that the authority had presented.
اوگرا نے تقریباً 6 سے 7 روپےفی لیٹر تک پٹرولیم مصنوعات کی قیمت بڑھانے کی تجویز کی۔ وزیراعظم عمران خان نے یہ تجویز منظور نہیں کی۔ پٹرولیم مصنوعات کی قیمتوں میں کوئی اضافہ نہیں کیا گیا۔ عالمی مارکیٹ میں پٹرولیم مصنوعات کی قیمتوں میں مسلسل اضافے کے باوجود وزیراعظم نے اجازت نہیں دی pic.twitter.com/Xwmn3EuhGc
— Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (@SHABAZGIL) February 28, 2021
The authority had proposed to jack up petrol price by Rs7 per litre and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs6 per litre for the next 15 days; however, POL prices will remain unchanged till March 15.
The current levy on petrol stands at Rs17.97 per litre, while that on diesel stands at Rs18.36 per litre.
It may be noted that the prime minister had also rejected ORGA’s proposal to increase the price of petroleum products earlier in the month after the body forwarded him a summary, seeking an increase of Rs14.07 per litre in the price of petrol and Rs13.61 per litre in the price of high speed diesel from Feb 15.
The authority had also recommended an increase in the price of kerosene oil by Rs10.79 per litre.
However, the government has been tweaking with petroleum levy rates instead of GST as levy remains in the national exchequer while GST goes to the divisible pool taxes and thus about 57pc share is grabbed by the provinces.
