Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri questions UPA govt’s oil policy

Sep 02,2021

Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today questioned the UPA government’s oil policy. In a series of tweets, Mr. Puri alleged that the previous regime saddled the future governments with Oil Bonds. He added that more than 1.5 lakh crore rupees of these bonds remain to be repaid, thus tying up crucial resources, limiting fiscal space and restricting financial freedom of Oil Marketing Companies.

The Minister said the important exploration and production sector was fund-starved at that time. He alleged that as a result, India’s import bill continues to be high and nearly 3.6 lakh crore rupees profits of oil companies was used for price stabilization by the UPA government to hide behind all is well smokescreen.

The Minister’s comments came in the wake of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the government over price rise of petroleum products.