The Centre claims it would save Rs 20,000 crore in FY15 and FY16 after launching its cooking gas subsidy through direct banking transfers and asking better off consumers to voluntarily give up theirs.However, according to The Hindu, the country's top auditor the CAG is likely to table a report that indicates over 90 percent of these savings were on account of the fall in crude prices.
CNBC-TV18 learns that the CAG report is likely to refute the government's claims of over Rs 20,000 crore saved due to the implementation of the ‘pahal scheme’.
Media reports too indicate that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its observations have indicated that less than Rs 2,000 crore is the kind of savings made on account of the ambitious direct benefit transfer (DBT) or Prime Minister Modi’s pet “give it up” campaign and that Rs 20,000 crore savings have come merely on account of the crash in crude prices, thereby reducing the import cost of LPG. When CNBC-TV18 spoke to top ministry officials, they indicated that while they are not calculating the savings on LPG subsidy in their entirety, the 'give it up’ or 'pahal campaign’ along with DBT is something that resulted in Rs 21,653 crore worth of savings. The direct benefit transfer in LPG scheme is called Pahal by the government.
Ministry officials also indicated that they have managed to plug duplicate, fake and ghost LPG accounts to the tune of 3.2 crore in FY15 and 3.5 crore in FY16 and on the back of this they are talking of over Rs 20,000 crore in savings.
However, if the CAG’s report is tabled in the current session of parliament and if it goes on to indicate that these numbers that the government is claiming are completely biased, then it definitely does not bode well either for Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan or for the government's ambitious campaign of give it up when it come to LPG subsidy. When CNBC-TV18'd Rituparna Bhuyan spoke to Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the alleged CAG report he said: “ There are two kind of calculations, one is accounting, another one is what we have done and we have projected that. Due to DBT we could block around 3.34 crore of bogus connections. If I go by that number in last two years then in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 if they would have taken 12 cylinders per consumer and the rate of subsidy we have passed on - in 2014-2015 itself we saved around Rs 14000 crore and in 2015-2016 we saved around Rs 6000 crore. This is fact and this is our calculation. When asked if he would be contesting the report, he said, “We have already put forth our point of view in front of CAG. CAG has a different kind of calculation, it is upto them, it is an independent body, it is a constitutional body, we don't have dispute on that but this is the bare fact.” “I came to know some of my Congress friends are criticizing this but the debate during Congress's regime was how much money they have looted. Now the debate is how much money we have saved, this is a debate on saving and that was a debate on looting,” he said.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
