Petroleum minister Ram Naik's faux pas in Lok Sabha on the reduction of price of cooking gas cylinder on Saturday drew strong protests from opposition benches.
While Naik announced reduction in price of LPG by Rs 20 in the House, his statement circulated among the members mentioned only Rs 15.
This created a confusion and members wanted to know which was correct.
“What I have spoken is correct,” Naik said when Congress member Santosh Mohan Dev agitatedly wanted a clarification from him.
Parliamentary affairs minister Pramod Mahajan explained that when the statement was prepared, the price was to be reduced by Rs 15 per cylinder but the petroleum minister was liberal and he reduced it further to Rs 20 while coming to the House.
Another mistake that crept in the statement was the amount of the subsidy burden due to the price reduction. It was later corrected that the subsidy burden would increase by about Rs 700 crore and not Rs 600 crore as mentioned in the statement.
Bureau Report
