After increasing the prices of Petrol, Diesel and LPG, the Government today has also increased the prices of CNG by 70 paise per kilogram, which all shall have a cascading effect on the freight charges, which will further fuel the price rise. An increase of 91 paise in the prices of PNG, used in the kitchen for domestic purposes, will send the domestic budget haywire. It has also brought the anti-poor and anti-middle-class face of the Modi Government to the fore.

During the past 26 days, this anti-people Government has increased the price of LPG gas cylinder by Rs. 125, while increasing the prices of LPG four times. The prices of subsidized, non-subsidizedLPG Cylinders and for Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries was increased by Rs. 25 on 01 March and before that, an increase of Rs. 25 was made on 25February, an increase of Rs. 50 on 15 February and increase of Rs. 25 on 04February. In this way, the prices of LPG cylinder have been increased by Rs. 125 for all categories in less than one month.

A domestic gas cylinder contains 14.2 kg gas. If its base price is calculated, it comes to Rs. 609.03 per cylinder. On this price,the Modi Government charges 5% GST, bottling charges, agency commission, transportation charges and then adds on its profit of the companies and a hefty amount of Rs. 819 is charged for each cylinder from the poor people of this country. The international price of LPG in the UPA government was USD 885.2 and 880.5 in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 respectively, but the UPA government would buy LPG at an expensive price and give a huge subsidy to the general public making it available for them at a price of Rs. 399-414 per cylinder.

The official figures of Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell informs that during the UPA Government in 2011-12, Congress UPA Government gave a subsidy of Rs. 1,42,000 crores on Petrol- Diesel and LPG, this amount was Rs. 1,64,387 crores in 2012-13 and Rs. 1,47,025 crores in 2013-14.On the contrary, the present Modi Government has drastically reduced this amount.The Modi Government should reducethe excise duty of Rs. 23.87 on petrol and Rs. 28.37 on Diesel. So, our clear demand is that the prices of subsidized LPG gas, petrol, diesel, CNG, PNG gas be immediately reduced and brought back to the level at which they existed during the Congress government. Tuesday, 02 March, 2021