[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Union minister for petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan informs Parliament of Modi sarkar’s plan to eliminate subsidies on cooking gas by March 2018

If spiraling prices of vegetables and consumer products has not already burnt a deep hole in your pocket, here is more from the government that won a massive mandate on the plank of ushering in Achche Din: your LPG cylinders are set to get dearer by ₹4 every month from now on. And the hike will not stop till the Narendra Modi government scraps subsidies on cooking gas entirely, the target for which has been set for March 2018.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, on Monday, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan informed that effective from June 1, 2017 his ministry had authorized oil marketing companies (OMCs) “to continue to increase the effective price of subsidised domestic LPG by ₹4 per cylinder per month (excluding VAT) till the reduction of government subsidy to ‘nil’, or till March 2018, or till further orders, whichever is earliest.”

This means that although you have already been paying an increased rate for your LPG cylinders for nearly two months now, the government decided to make the order public now – perhaps only because the minister was asked a question on the subject in the Lok Sabha.

The government had previously asked Indian Oil (IOC), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) to raise rates of subsidised domestic LPG cylinders by ₹2 per 14.2-kg cylinder per month (excluding VAT). However, that hike didn’t seem to match up to the speed with which the Narendra Modi government – which had earlier asked citizens to voluntary give up their subsidies on cylinders – wants to scrap the ‘populist’ policy.

As of now, every household is entitled to 12 LPG cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year. Any requirement beyond that is to be purchased at the market price.

“Public sector OMCs were authorised to increase price of subsidised domestic LPG cylinder by Rs2 per cylinder per month (excluding VAT) with effect from July 1, 2016,” Pradhan said in his written reply, conceding that the companies had hiked LPG rates on 10 occasions since that order. This means a hike of ₹24 per cylinder in the past year.

Dharmendra Pradhan

Now, according to Pradhan, “The government vide its order dated May 30, 2017, has again authorised OMCs to continue to increase the effective price of subsidised domestic LPG by ₹4 per cylinder effective June 1, 2017, per month (excluding VAT)”. Considering that this hike became effective in June and is set to continue till March 2018, consumers will end up shelling ₹40 more per cylinder by the end of the current financial year.

Effectively the hike would come to ₹64 per LPG cylinder since the first go-ahead for monthly revision of prices in July 2016.

Subsidised LPG now costs ₹477.46 per 14.2-kg cylinder in Delhi. It was priced at ₹419.18 in June last year. The rate of non-subsidised LPG, which consumers pay after exhausting their 12 cylinders/year quota, costs ₹564 as of now.

There are as many as 18.11 crore customers of subsidised LPG in the country. These include 2.5 crore poor women who were given free connections during the last one year under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna. Additionally, there are 2.66 crore users of non-subsidised cooking gas.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]