[Marxistindia] Left MPs write to PM on KG Basin Gas

[news from the cpi(m)]

Tel. 23344918, 23747435

                                                         August 02, 2009


Press Release


Thirty Members of Parliament belonging to the Left parties from both
Houses have written to the Prime Minister to ensure that a "national
asset" namely the natural gas reserves including the gas of KG Basin is
not appropriated as "family property". The signatories include Sitaram
Yechury, D Raja, Brinda Karat, Basudev Acharia, Prashant Chatterjee
etc. 


The text of the letter dated July 27, 2009 and given to the Prime
Minister today is given below:

                              ************


Dear Shri Manmohan Singh Ji,


As you are kindly aware Government of India has rightly asserted that
the country's natural gas reserves including the gas of KG Basin is a
national asset and this asset and the interests of the economy cannot be
held hostage to the benevolence and mercy of some private players.


We strongly believe that such firm assertion should be followed up by
appropriate executive action on proper distribution mechanism to make
the gas available to priority sectors in the country. Also the regional
balance in gas distribution should be ensured through a national gas
grid as proposed in the Budget. 


The pricing of gas should be based on rational and a transparent
formulation. As gas is being produced in our own soil, there is
absolutely no justification of pricing it on the basis of linkage with
international price of an altogether different product like crude oil as
has been done at present by making the gas price at US $ 4.32 per mmbtu.
Hence the present gas price determined by the EGoM must be revised and
it should be benchmarked to 2.34 dollar/mmbtu as offered to NTPC, a
Government owned PSU, by RIL in 2004-2005. 


In the face of the "surreptitious and unauthorised" bid of appropriating
the country's sovereign natural resources as "family property" by some
private players as pointed out in Government's affidavit before the
Hon'ble Supreme Court, we urge upon the government to take over the
distribution and marketing right of the KG-D6 basin gas at the delivery
point so that the same can be distributed and marketed through National
Gas Grid under government control as is being done in case of
electricity through the Powergrid Corporation of India. Gas Authority of
India Ltd. (GAIL), a PSU can be assigned the role of a nodal agency for
this purpose.


With regards,


                                                         Yours sincerely

                                                                    Sd/-


                                 Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Brinda Karat, 

                         Basudev Acharia, Prashant Chatterjee and others