Petroleum Minister Ram Naik has ruled out any hike in the prices of cooking gas and kerosene in the wake of war threats in the Middle East. He, however, said that deposit money for LPG cylinders might come down in a couple of days.‘‘LPG and kerosene are subsidised items. In order to insulate the weaker sections, there is no proposal for any increase in their prices,’’ he said.The deposit money for LPG cylinders was Rs 900 earlier but was brought down to Rs 700 per cylinder after oil companies had floated tenders last year.The new tenders floated recently showed that there could be further reduction in the deposit money and the benefit of which would be passed on to the consumers, Naik said, adding the government was likely to announce the new deposit money in a couple of days.According to sources, the new LPG connections could be cheaper by Rs 50 per cylinder. This would imply, that deposits for the LPG cylinders is expected to be Rs 650 per cylinder from the present rate of Rs 700 per cylinder.He said international crude prices had been volatile and had gone up over 50 per cent from $20 per barrel to $32 per barrel. The government has devised a scheme wherein oil companies would review the price situation every 15 days. Before the dismantling of administered price mechanism in April last, ‘‘never in the past have petrol and diesel prices been reduced’’, he said, adding ‘‘in the last one year they have been reduced three times.’’
