No question of rollback of fuel price deregulation: Oil Minister New Delhi, June 6 (IANS): Sternly ruling out any rollback of deregulation of fuel prices, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said despite having the burden of repaying oil bonds, the government will take full responsibility of keeping fuel prices in check and ensuring they don't go out of reach of the common man. Addressing a press conference here, Pradhan reiterated that the government was working on a long-term solution to address oil price fluctuations while taking a holistic view of all factors. He said there was a greater conducive environment to bring petroleum products under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), however adding that the GST Council would have to take a call on that. "I stand by my statement: the government will take a holistic view. There are three major factors for oil price hike -- geopolitics leading to fluctuation in international crude oil prices, exchange rate fluctuation between dollar and Indian currency, and taxation structure of our country where some taxes are imposed by state governments and (Centre imposes) excise duty," Pradhan said. Asked if as part of the "long-term plan" to deal with rising fuel prices, the government was considering partial rollback of deregulation, Pradhan said: "That question doesn't arise. It is a reformist government. We cannot go back on reforms." Resolution for Delhi statehood tabled New Delhi, June 6 (IANS): Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday tabled a resolution, demanding statehood for Delhi, in the Assembly. Moving the resolution, Sisodia said: "Every country in the world has a capital. People from all over the country live in the national capital. No government can claim to be democratic if they don't consider the issues faced by the people living in the capital. "For everything we have to go to the LG and his only job is to stop the Delhi government from doing good work." During the debate, Akali Dal legislator Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the Delhi government has health, education and water under them, but still are not able to satisfy the people with their work. "Elections are coming and to hide their failure they are demanding full statehood," eh said. Haryana bans single-use plastic bottles in offices Chandigarh, June 6 (IANS): The Haryana government on Wednesday announced that it has decided to ban single use plastic bottles in government offices, including departments, boards, corporations and autonomous units in the state. "Now only multi-use water bottles of alternative material such as glass, steel, aluminium etc would be allowed instead of plastic bottles so as to minimize the generation of plastic waste," a statement government spokesman said here on Wednesday. The single-use plastic bottles are the ones in which mineral water and other food grade liquids are sold. However, many people have the habit of using these bottles repeatedly even though this is not advisable. The decision to impose a ban on single-use plastic bottles was taken at a meeting chaired by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Monday. The official order was issued here on Wednesday by Chief Secretary D.S. Dhesi.
