actually provide for a 26" per cent rise in use of high-speed diesel from tonnes.
tonnes.
The Sixth Plan document had, again very sensibly, pointed out that management of the demand for oil "will require two-pronged action, namely, ensuring adequate availability of alternative sources of energy, viz, coal and power, and more economic use of petroleum products in sectors where use of oil is unavoidable". The persistent snags in coal production and transportation, as a result of which even high priority users of coal like the steel mills and power plants have been plagued by coal shortage, and the well known shortfalls in the implementation of the Sixth Plan's power programme make it clear that the task of adequately enlarging the availability of alternative sources of energy has been consummately bungled. As for policies to bring about more economic use of petroleum products, about the only action taken by the government has been to periodically increase the prices of petroleum products. However, given the shortage of alternative energy sources and given the generally weak competitive impulses in the economy, it is not surprising that price increases by themselves have failed to curb the growth of demand for petroleum pro- ducts, leave alone rationalise their use pattern.
