The public sector company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is going to be privatized. BPCL is the parent company of Bharatgas LPG Cylinder. In such a situation, the question in the mind of Bharatgas customers is that even after privatization of BPCL, 7.3 crore domestic LPG customers will continue to get the benefit of subsidy or the subsidy will stop. This question has been resolved.
A top BPCL official says that there is a plan to create a separate strategic business unit (SBU) for the company’s LPG business. The new owner of BPCL will have the right to retain or sell the company’s LPG business only after three years of its acquisition.
According to the official, even after the exit of the government from Bharat Petroleum, the new company will be banned for three years. The new owner of the company will not be able to sell or transfer any asset. After three years, he will have the right to own or sell the LPG business. Explain that the government provides 12 LPG cylinders (LPG cylinders) on subsidy in a year. This month a subsidy of Rs 50 is to be given on each cylinder. It will be delivered directly to the customers account.
What after three years?
The official said that even after three years, if the new owner of BPCL wants to keep the LPG business in the company, then even after that the customers will continue to get government subsidy. If the new owner refuses to keep the LPG business, then after three years, its LPG customers will be transferred to the other two state-owned Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum. The official said that the government will continue to subsidize the 7.3 crore BPCL customers even after privatization. But due to conflict of interest in giving government subsidy to a private company, the LPG business will be kept under a separate SBU.
SBU accounts will also be audited
He said that SBU will keep the details of accounts separately. Also, the details of how much subsidy he received and how many customers he sent subsidies in a digital way will also have to be kept. SBU accounts will also be audited to ensure that funds are not manipulated. Subsidizing Bharat Petroleum after privatization will not mean that subsidies will be given to other private LPG distributors as well. The official said, “Bharat Petroleum is an old company and thus the subsidy of its customers cannot be abolished overnight.”
Source: www.financialexpress.com