The oil ministry has set the ball rolling to seek Cabinet approval in this regard and is suggesting changes so that the entire subsidy is borne transparently through the Budget.

The government's move isn't difficult to understand. The present arrangement to provide dole for cooking fuels comes to an end on March 31. In the absence of subsidy, cooking gas prices have to be raised by Rs 133 a cylinder and kerosene by Rs 14 a litre. Such a sudden and big jump in prices of what oil minister Murli Deora described in his October 2006 letter to finance minister P Chidambaram as ``lifeline fuels'' will be politically suicidal.

In February 2002, the government had decided to lift control over pricing of petroproducts.

However, in view of the sensitive nature of kitchen fuels, it decided to continue subsidy on cooking gas and kerosene at a specified flat rate. The caveat was that the system would be phased out in 3-5 years. But with oil prices more than trebling from their 2002 historical mean to $55-75 a barrel range in recent times, the government feels it is necessary to keep holding consumers' hand for three more years.