Petroleum minister Murli Deora on Sunday reiterated that the deregulation of fuel pricing will be done with a human face. He however, declined to specify any timeline for the deregulation of fuel pricing.

Deora?s statement comes close on the heels of the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee?s proposal in the annual budget to form an expert group to advice the government on a viable and sustainable system for pricing of petroleum products.

He was speaking to reporters here at the sidelines of International Dawoodi Bohra Trade Exhibition.

Deora recalled that the centre has already hiked the prices of petrol by Rs 4 per litre and Rs 2 per litre for diesel. However, he mentioned that the prices of LPG and kerosene remain untouched.

As a policy, petroleum prices are regulated by the government which results in huge subsidy burden on the government. While Deora tended to be soft on kerosene and LPG, he justified the recent increase in the prices of petrol and diesel arguing the oil companies fall under the Navaratna category and they cannot sell at a loss.

Deora said the finance minister has allocated Rs 30,000 crore towards subsidy burden for LPG and kerosene. He added that the centre has not hiked the kerosene prices in a decade.

He said the government has been making periodic changes in petrol and diesel prices depending upon international prices and ?it is as good as deregulation?.

He said the government could consider to reduce the prices if the international prices fall and stabilise at that level for 4-5 weeks. Deora said the government had earlier reduced the domestic prices of petrol by as much as Rs 10 per litre when there was a sharp fall in international prices.

Meanwhile, the minister announced that the entire city of Mumbai would get piped gas for cooking over the next two years. At present only about 3.80 lakh homes in the city have been given piped gas connection.

Mahanagar Gas which is providing piped gas in the city is facing problems like digging of roads to lay the pipelines. But Deora said recently the municipal commissioner met him in this regard to solve the issue.