Having been done in at the hustings in four key north Indian States, the Government has indicated that it is open to relaxing the nine subsidised lPG (cooking gas) cylinder cap per family a year by taking it to 12 per household, and would take an objective view on it after consulting all the stakeholders.
According to highly placed sources, having lost massive political ground due to its crushing defeat in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly polls, the Congress-led UPA Government is hoping that by relaxing the cylinder cap, it may help salvage some hope among the public.
The Petroleum Ministry, they added, accordingly is likely to seek views within the Government on the proposal, as the decision to put a cap on subsidised cylinders supply to nine a year per family was approved by the Congress Core Group and the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA).
Sources privy to the development said that after suffering a 4-0 drubbing in all the four major Hindi-speaking States (Congress won the assembly polls in Mizoram as a consolation) and with lok Sabha elections just four month away, a sense of urgency has converged upon the Government and it is keen to announce sops which can have an immediate impact on the common man.
The decision to relax the cap of nine subsidised lPG cylinders per family to 12 seems to be on the forefront within the Government fold. At the same time though, sources added that it does not want to rush into anything and therefore is keen to first seek the opinion of all the stakeholders.
Industry sources said that if the cap is increased to 12 cylinders per family, the move would bring a lot of relief to the household budgets of the middle class families, though it may add to the subsidy burden of the oil marketing companies (OMCs) at the same time.
On January 17 this year, when the Government had decided to raise the cap on subsidised lPG cylinders from the then existing six to nine, the move was primarily driven by populism. It may be recalled that in September last year when the Petroleum Ministry had capped the number of subsidised lPG cylinders to six a family, Congress chief and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had asked all the states ruled by the party to raise this number to nine. Delhi Government had immediately implemented this directive for the below poverty line (BPl) category families.
Therefore now when the UPA is staring at a major political crisis, a move to relax this cap further to 12 cylinders per family, may help it gain some political points, industry source said.
The proposal, sources added, is likely to be taken to the CCPA once it is discussed threadbare with all the concerned stakeholders, taking all the repercussions into consideration.
Incidentally the BJP in its manifesto for the recently held Delhi assembly elections, had promised 12 cylinders per family if voted into power. This may also have prompted the Government to consider the proposal within its fold, sources added.