The GAS War Intensifies..

The GAS war has intensified as Government has set up a panel to discuss the issue. With each new advertisement, ADAG is digging deeper into their allegations and some of these are serious allegations like Corruption, Hoarding, Profiteering, Creating Artificial Scarcity etc. The point is that had ADAG not believed into the evidence that they have, they might not have spitted the venom out in the press. Clearly, they want a public debate more than a judicial debate.



This advertisement blitzkrieg by ADAG has raised eyebrows across the political and corporate circle. But now the debate has turned towards petty issues like whether the supreme court will take cognizance of this or whether the judiciary will completely ignore this and hear the case based on the pure facts and evidences brought in the court? I don't think anybody is discussing the more potent issue of corruption.

The media is debating the morality of this campaign. I think that the main purpose of this ad is to elicit a response from the two parties. Government and RIL. Ministry has to come out clear and RIL too have to take a stand.

We have so many reference points to decide about the price of the gas. Petroleum ministry has approved a price of 4.20$ for reasons unknown. DGH has earlier said that the cost of production is only 1.28$ per unit. That gives RIL a neat 300% margin. (--What's the problem with that? Indian gas is no more cheap boy! And also we are in habit of selling the national assets cheap. Did you forget the 2G auction? More on that here)

ADAG claims that the capex was inflated which would obviously inflate the cost of production. This inflated capex will result in loss of revenue for the govt. (--Are you talking about inflation? well who is worried about that? )

DGH or Director General of Hydrocarbons claims that their figure were validated by a third party Source Here . ADAG claims that this third property has conflict of interest with RIL Source here. Back to square one.

NTPC first decided to take RIL into court for the gas supply agreement that they signed some time back. Later they backtracked and it seems that a group of senior employees are content with the new prices decided by petroleum ministry. What's the reason? "Upar se order hai bhai".

Well, the debate has started and will continue till 1st of September when the apex court will decide on the fate of the shareholders of the two group. But till then, I think enough water will go down under the bridge. Just brace for RIL not to start offensive against ADAG group companies like ADLABS, RNRL and Reliance Communication.

Want some mirch masala on this issue? It's here.