After being forced to defer a decision on fuel prices yesterday over absence of ministers, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said a new date for the ministerial panel meeting may be decided on Thursday.
"On Thursday, the normal weekly Cabinet (meeting) day when most of the ministers would be present... After talking to them, I will find out the appropriate date...," he told reporters here.
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) yesterday deferred a decision on freeing petrol and diesel prices from government control and raising prices of others due to lack of quorum.
The EGoM headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee could not arrive at a decision as four key ministers, including Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
"So far there is a group of ministers. Yesterday, I held a meeting of the group of ministers, but a number of ministers were not present," he said.
The panel went into the report of the expert group headed by Kirit Parikh calling for freeing petrol and diesel prices and a steep Rs 100 per cylinder hike in LPG rates and a Rs 6 per litre increase in kerosene prices.
