Petroleum Minister Ram Naik on Saturday said the process of dismantling the Administered Price Mechanism (APM) had begun. Coming out after a meeting in New Delhi with finance minister Yashwant Sinha, Naik said that even after the dismantling, LPG will continue to have a subsidy of 15 per cent and kerosene 33 per cent.

Naik said he had preliminary discussions about the process with Sinha, adding that issues relating to subsidy after dismantling of APM were under discussion. He said fuels like gas, petrol and diesel would be freed from price control.

Informed sources said the petroleum ministry had asked the finance ministry to allow the oil coordination committee to withdraw deposits of Rs 4,429 crore from the public accounts fund.

Bureau Report