With Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi pitching strongly for a higher lPG cap, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said the Cabinet is likely to consider increasing the quota of subsidised cooking gas cylinders to 12 from nine per household this week.
“After our vice president Rahul Gandhi said nine cylinders are not enough, I have moved a Cabinet note to increase the quota to 12. I think the Cabinet is likely to consider the proposal this week,” Moily said after launching the sale of 5-kg cooking gas (lPG) cylinders at petrol pumps in the national capital. Gandhi stated at the All India Congress Committee session last week that there was a need to increase the quota to 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each.
Moily said 89.2 per cent of the 15 crore lPG consumers use up to nine cylinders in a year and only 10 per cent have to buy the additional requirement at the market price. If the quota is raised to 12, about 97 per cent of the lPG consumers would be covered by subsidised lPG, he said. Increasing the limit to 12 would result in an additional fuel subsidy burden of Rs 3,300 crore-4,000 crore. The government already incurs about Rs 46,000 crore per annum as lPG subsidy.The Government had initially capped the supply of subsidised domestic lPG cylinders to six per household annually in September 2012 in a bid to cut its subsidy bill.