The government today hiked the prices of diesel by three rupees and that of cooking gas by 50 rupees per cylinder. The prices of kerosene oil were raised by two rupees a litre. The decision to this effect was taken in the Empowered Group of Ministers on petroleum products chaired by the Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. The details were given by Petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy after the meeting. Reddy said the import duty of 5 per cent on crude oil has been eliminated.The prices of petrol were recently raised by 5 rupees a litre while the diesel prices under government control were raised a year ago. Diesel will sell in Delhi at 40 rupees 75 paise per litre from tonight, while it will cost 45 rupees six paisa in Mumbai and 43 rupees six paisa in Kolkata. According to official estimates, the public sector oil marketing companies (OMC) are currently losing 490 crore rupees per day on sale of petrol and diesel, kerosene and LPG cylinder at government controlled prices. The OMCs are estimated to lose 1.7 trillion rupees in fiscal 2011-12 due to selling oil at current prices.