In a big impact move for those most vulnerable to surging inflation and fuel prices, the government has restricted subsidies on cooking gas and LPG to the 9 crore women beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana only. Other consumers and households will have to pay market prices, according to news agency PTI.
Oil secretary Pankaj Jain at a press briefing said the only subsidy has been paid on cooking gas since June 20 barring that mentioned by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 21, PTI reported.
“There was no subsidy for LPG users since the early days of Covid. Since then the only subsidy is one which had been introduced now for Ujjawala beneficiaries,” Jain said.
The Finance Minister Sitharaman said that the beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme will get Rs 200 per cylinder for 12 cylinders per year when she announced a reduction in excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre. The move will have a revenue implication of around Rs 6100 crore a year, the FM added.
“Our government is devoted to the welfare of the poor. We’ve taken a number of steps to help the poor and middle class. As a result, the average inflation during our tenure has remained lower than during previous governments,” FM Sitharaman stated in a series of tweets.
The cost of a 14.2-kg LPG cylinder in Delhi reached Rs 1003 in Delhi, after a second price hike in May. In Mumbai, the domestic domestic cooking gas cylinder costs Rs 1002.50. In Kolkata, it costs Rs 1,029 and Rs 1,058.50 in Chennai.
Notably, the government ended subsidies on petrol and diesel in June 2010 and November 2014 respectively. Kerosene was linked to market prices two years later.
