New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday hit out at the centre over the increase in the price of commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders and commercial cylinders and demanded a roll-back of the hike.

On Wednesday, petroleum and oil marketing companies raised the price of commercial liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders by Rs350.50 per unit and domestic LPG cylinders by Rs50 per unit with immediate effect. Non-subsidised LPG price was hiked to Rs1,103 per 14.2-kg cylinder– the first increase since July 2022, an oil company price notification said. Earlier, on January 1, commercial cylinder prices were increased by Rs25 per cylinder.

Congress said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government should learn from Congress-ruled states and take lessons on how to keep cooking gas prices below Rs. 500.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said during a press conference on Wednesday said that the central government should take lessons from the Rajasthan government.

“We promised that gas cylinder is not going to be above Rs. 500 for more than half of families residing in the state [in Rajasthan],” he said.

“There is no growth, income and on top of that essential commodities prices are rising and then the PM wants us to thank him, this cannot happen,” Vallabh added.

He further pointed out that PM Modi-led government in its nine years only paid subsidies of Rs. 36,500 crores on LPG cylinders as compared to the previous government between 2004/2005 and 2013/2014 which paid Rs. 2,14,000 in subsidies.

“The loot does not end here and the Modi government imposed 5% GST over LPG cylinders and 18% for commercial gas. The reason for the 4.4% quarter three GDP is that manufacturing is having a negative growth, a contraction of -1.1% and the private consumption is not picking up,” he alleged.

“This is not the economic governance model of any democratic government,” Vallabh went on to add.

In the National capital Delhi commercial LPG cylinders will now cost Rs2,119.50 per unit a 19.8% hike from Rs1,769 earlier and the price of domestic LPG cylinders will be Rs1,103 per unit, a 4.7% increase from Rs1057. The hike of Rs350.50 is the second biggest hike after the hike of Rs350 per cylinder weighing 19 kg in 2014. Now the commercial LPG cylinder is back above Rs2100 per unit for the first time since June 2022.

The domestic gas cylinder’s price changes from state to state based on state taxes. The rates are usually changed on the first day of the month. Apart from that, a household is permitted to have 12 domestic cylinders at subsidized rates in a year.

Agencies

Press Trust of India