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Govt hikes petrol, diesel and LPG prices

         New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ruling United Progressive Alliance today predictably raised the prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) while holding back a decision to hike the price of kerosene. Addressing a news conference late on Tuesday evening, Union Minister of State of Petroleum (Independent Charge), Mani Shankar Aiyer, said that the "exceptionally critical situation" of crude oil prices internationally had forced the government and the domestic oil marketing companies (OMCs) hand in raising the prices in three of the four important fuel categories to counter the rising debt of Rs.18, 000 crores. He said that given this huge figure, it was the government's considered opinion that this burden of payment should be shared equitably between three entities - the government, the OMCs and the consumer. Therefore, it was decided to hike petrol prices by Rs.2 per litre, diesel prices by Rs.1 per litre and LPG prices by Rs.20 per cylinder.

        Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs.35.70 a litre while diesel will cost Rs.22.73 and LPG Rs.261 per cylinder, Aiyer said. Giving the reasons behind the decision to hike the prices, Aiyer said that the sudden and sharp spiralling of prices of petroleum- linked products internationally and its almost certain and real impact on domestic pricing was the only reason.

UPA Budget to be presented on July 8 (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The first budget of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will be presented on July 8 (Thursday). Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues have reportedly arrived at this decision at a meeting that was held at his official residence a short while ago. According to a tentative schedule, the 2004-2005 budget session will begin from July 5 (Monday). The Railway Budget for 2004-2005 will presented on July 6, while the Economic Survey will be tabled on July 7. Ten working days are expected to be devoted the debate on the railway and finance bills. The Parliament then could be adjourned from the July 24 to August 15. The session will end on September 3. The Cabinet has also reportedly decided to take up and discuss the issue of a concession agreement for the Rs.1,300 crore Greenfield International Airport at Bangalore. The previous NDA government had approved the draft version of the concession agreement. But the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) comprising Siemens, L and T and Zurich airport had sought some clarification from the government which had been pending due to announcement of general elections.

Robbery most likely motive behind Dubey's killing: CBI (Go To Top)

         Gaya: The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) on Tuesday claimed to have recovered the weapons used by the assailants in the murder of Satyendra Dubey, who had last year blown the whistle on corruption in a highway project. They claimed that robbery of 4000 rupees was the motive for the killing and not Dubey's allegation of corruption, as was earlier believed. The agency, however, has made it clear that it was still probing all angles. The CBI had earlier arrested five suspects in the murder case. The investigating agency recovered the revolver along with Dubey's belongings from a well in a village near Gaya city, where the engineer was stationed. CBI sleuths sad the documents, which include an identity card and details of the project, clearly link the five men arrested last week to the murder.

           "We got information relating to the arrests which were made by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) last week in Satyendra Dubey murder case. The briefcase which was looted and arms suspected to have been used to kill him have been found. We conducted a joint raid with the federal police and recovered the briefcase and arms which were used in killing Satyendra Dubey," Gaya SSP Sanjay Singh said. The 31-year old Dubey, a graduate from the country's top engineering school, was murdered in November last year after he had written to the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee alleging corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral project. It was widely believed that Dubey was killed for having blown the whistle on the builders and dons in Bihar.

Balram Jakhar to be new MP Governor (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former union minister Balram Jakhar, who recently lost the Lok elections, will become the next Madhya Pradesh Governor. This was announced here on Tuesday He will replace the present incumbent Lt. General (retired) K.M. Seth. Jakhar, who had been Speaker in the seventh and eighth Lok Sabhas, had lost from Churu Lok Sabha constituency in the recently held general elections. Jakhar is considered a senior leader in the Congress and over the past few weeks speculations has been rife about him being offered a gubernatorial assignment.

TRS joins Andhra Cabinet (Go To Top)

         Hyderabad: The Telengana Rakhsha Samiti (TRS), a regional political party in Andhra Pradesh led by K. Chandrasekhar Rao, has decided to join the newly installed Congress government in the state. The party has five members in the state assembly. As to how many ministers would be taken in the state cabinet would be decided after State Chief Minister Y. Rajshekhar Reddy meets Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, Rao told reporters here after meeting Reddy. The meeting is slated to take place soon, he added TRS had a pre-poll alliance with the Congress prior to the assembly elections in the state. But, after the Congress single- handedly managed to get the three-fourth majority, it didn't give enough weight to the TRS, whose main demand is the creation of a separate state Telengana. The Congress, on the other hand, is not so interested in creating a separate state. This was said to be the main reason why the Congress appeared averse for letting TRS join its government. Making its intentions (of not creating Telengana), the Congress had recently invited the Naxalites for a meeting.

Four LeT terrorists killed in Ahmedabad (Go To Top)

          Ahmedabad: Four Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists, including a woman, were killed in an encounter with police here early this morning. The encounter took place three days before the staging of the Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra. Crime Branch sleuths were quoted by wire agencies as saying that they had received an intelligence tip off about the terrorists being in the city with the aim of assassinating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The police intercepted a vehicle at Kotarpur near the city airport and the militants were killed in the ensuing encounter. According to the Joint Commissioner of Police P P Pandey, the terrorists belonged to LeT's suicide squad and two of them hailed from Pakistan.