The Congress on Wednesday hit out at the Government over the hike in prices of LPG cylinders, accusing it of being insensitive and distorting the budget of every household. The party also displayed empty LPG cylinders and ‘chulhas’ at the AICC press conference to highlight the issue of steep LPG prices.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra charged that the Government’s “collection scheme” is flourishing by increasing prices of LPG every month. “On July 1, Modi ji’s Government increased the price of LPG by `25 and on August 17 again increased it by `25. By showing the dream of Ujjwala, the ‘collection scheme’ of the BJP Government is flourishing by increasing the prices of LPG every month,” Priyanka said in a tweet.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate urged the Government to bring down prices of LPG cylinders to provide relief to the common people in the country. She said the Government has initiated the very steep hike on LPG cylinders by raising it by `25 per cylinder, which is now being sold at `860 per cylinder in Delhi and is touching almost ` 1,000 in various parts of the country.
“Our one and only demand is please bring some respite to people, think about the plight of people and bring down prices of LPG cylinders. This is anti-women and anti-people and due to high prices people are forced to go back to using cow dung and firewood,” she said at AICC briefing.
“We do hope that an insensitive government intoxicated on power will pay some attention and bring some respite to people. This is absolutely immoral and there is no word to describe this,” she said.
Shrinate said as per Saudi Aramco, which decides on prices of gas, the price actually comes to `600 but why are we paying `260 more. In the last eight or nine months alone, prices of LPG cylinders have gone up by `265, which is almost 44 percent, she said.
She also alleged that the government is not paying any subsidy on LPG cylinders and there is no difference between the market and controlled prices.
On the much-touted Ujjwala Yojna, she said the reality is that beneficiaries of the scheme cannot afford a cylinder at `800 at a time when 97 per cent of people are earning less than what they were three years back and 23 crore people have gone below the poverty line.
“At what stage will the Government realise that during the economic crisis, when people have lost jobs and their wages have gone down and when people are looking for employment opportunities, they should not distort their home budgets,” she said.