M A I N   N E W S

Cap on LPG cylinders under review: Moily
Tribune News Service

Rising demand Opposition MPs led by Sushma Swaraj demanded immediate rollback of the decision to cap subsidised LPG cylinders at six per household per year Trinamool Congress members stormed the well of the House demanding an increase in the number of subsidised cylinders to 24 per household per year The government gives a subsidy of Rs 1.64 lakh crore for kerosene, LPG and diesel A whopping 75% of global LPG consumption is in India

This is a rude shock. First you inflated the prices of food items, now you have put the fuel on fire. It is shocking. The cap must be rolled back. — Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition (LS)

New Delhi, November 30
The Government today said it was reconsidering the matter of cap on subsidised LPG cylinders and would soon take a decision on it.

The assurance came from Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily during Question Hour after the Opposition MPs led by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj demanded an immediate rollback of the decision to cap subsidised LPG cylinders at six per household per year.

“This is a rude shock. First you inflated the prices of food items. Now you have put the fuel on fire. It is shocking. The cap must be rolled back,” Swaraj said even as members of the Trinamool Congress stormed the well of the House demanding the number of subsidised cylinders raised to 24 per household per year.

Moily said the Government appreciated the concerns of the people and had receive several representation from MPs. “We are definitely reconsidering the issue. I will meet the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister on the issue soon. The compulsion to fix a cap was also clear as Rs 1.64 lakh crore of subsidy is being given by the Government for kerosene, LPG and diesel. Many marketing companies are not in a position to buy raw materials. We are under pressure as 75 pc of the global LPG consumption is in India,” Moily said as the entire Opposition slammed the move and tried to disrupt proceedings.

Rural households will be the hardest hit by the subsidy cap. The Government also informed the Lok Sabha that a scheme for direct cash transfer of subsidy to LPG consumers in their bank accounts based on the delivery of LPG cylinders was under consideration. A pilot project had been launched in this regard in Mysore using Aadhaar number and a token transfer of money to 10 consumers has already been made to test the cash transfer scheme.