Congress demands rollback in hike of price of LPG cylinders

The Congress on Wednesday lambasted the Modi government for hiking the prices of LPG cylinders, which it said had not just upset the monthly budget of families, but brought huge pain for the middle class, the lower middle class and the poor who find it untenable to buy gas cylinders at the hiked prices.

Addressing the media, AICC spokesperson Supriya Shrinate pointed out that in 2014, subsidized cylinders were being sold for Rs. 412; they are now being sold for Rs. 595, up by Rs. 183. Non-subsidized cylinders were sold for Rs. 574; today they are now being sold for Rs. 694.

“You need to bring in some respite and that respite will only happen if you roll back the prices that you have hiked for LPG gas cylinders, because data and reports now suggest that a lot of women in rural areas are going back to burning fuels instead of LPG gas with LPG gas cylinders becoming a showpiece. In at least five states in the country, including Bihar, Assam and Meghalaya, less than 45% households have access to clean fuel. But govt is just plastering Modi’s pictures all over the country, and tom-tomming what great things it has done which in reality is turning out to be nothing but boastful claims,” she said.

Here are some highlights of her remarks:

In the last 15 days, the prices of LPG cylinder have gone up by Rs, 100 per cylinder. This has not just upset the monthly budget of families, it has brought huge pain for the middle class, the lower middle class and the poor who find it untenable to buy gas cylinders at Rs. 694 or Rs. 640, depending on where you are. In places like Gorakhpur and eastern UP where I come from, cylinders are being sold for Rs. 757 and if you compare it to the subsidized and the non-subsidized cylinders in 2014, the picture is very stark.

In 2014, subsidized cylinders were being sold for Rs. 412; they are now being sold for Rs. 595, up by Rs. 183. Non-subsidized cylinders were sold for Rs. 574; today they are being sold for Rs. 694. This government has also raised prices of petrol and diesel. There is huge taxation there. We were taxing petrol at Rs. 9.20 per litre and diesel at Rs. 3.50 per litre. Today the taxation on petrol is over Rs. 32.98 per litre, while on diesel it is over Rs. 31.83 per litre.

This government in its tenure so far and its first and second tenure has increased excise duty almost a dozen times and has earned about Rs. 22 lakh crore. It is time you bring some relief to the common man, because the common man today is reeling under economic slowdown, joblessness, wage cuts and your mismanagement of the Indian economy during the lockdown.

As a result you need to bring in some respite and that respite will only happen if you roll back the prices that you have hiked for LPG gas cylinders, because data and reports now suggest that a lot of women in rural areas are going back to burning fuels instead of LPG gas with LPG gas cylinders becoming a showpiece. In at least five states in the country, including Bihar, Assam and Meghalaya, less than

45% households have access to clean fuel. But govt is just plastering Modi’s pictures all over the country, and tom-tomming what great things it has done which in reality is turning out to be nothing but boastful claims.

Please bring some respite for the common man. When there is scope to earn profit, the government alone will earn all the profits. When there is scope to share the burden, the common has to share the burden. This we believe is extremely unfortunate, it is insensitive and this also reflects complete lack of economic management. Anybody who understands economics will understand and will know that to spur up consumption, you will have to lower prices especially in an economy like ours where consumption forms 60% of our GDP.

If you do not spur consumption no economy can recover, we are already in a recession. So we will urge and hope that the government will respond to the needs of common man, to the needs of the poor people, to the needs of the women who have to manage their kitchens and roll back the LPG price hike that has happened because Rs. 100 per cylinder is a very steep hike.