nChief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll back the Centre’s decision to reduce kerosene quota of Chhattisgarh and instead provide it  1.53 lakh kilolitres of kerosene, officials informed on Saturday.

In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister reasoned that refilling price of LPG cylinder was high in Chhattisgarh and its distribution system was also weak in the state due to which cooking gas refill rate in rural region was negligible.

While citing earlier letter sent to the PMO on March 26, 2019 he said, “I had earlier also highlighted the issue that after launch of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in Chhattisgarh, the kerosene quota of the state was slashed.” “Due to negligible refill in rural region, I had requested for increasing the kerosene quota of the state from 1.1 lakh kilolitres to 1.58 lakh kilolitres,” the CM said in the letter.

Baghel informed that in the second quarter of 2019-20 there was reduction of 10,884 kilolitres in Chhattisgarh’s quota, which is around 38 percent reduction.

“Out of 146 blocks in Chhattisgarh, 85 blocks or 58 percent of the state are scheduled blocks. The families living here are not capable of paying refill amount at once. Likewise, ‘Antyodaya’ and ‘priority’ families living in non-scheduled regions also are not in the position to pay for one-time refill.

 So, considering PMUY beneficiaries ineligible for PDS kerosene and slashing state’s kerosene share is not justified,” he said.

He pointed out that in the second quarter the national average kerosene quota reduction of states was 27 percent while Chhattisgarh’s share was reduced by 38 per cent.