New Delhi: The government has limited subsidies on LPG. Millions of subsidized consumers will now have to pay for an LPG cylinder at the market price. Now only 90 million poor women and other beneficiaries who have availed of free connection under Ujwala scheme will get a subsidy of Rs 200.
Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain said in a statement that since June 2020, there has been no subsidy on LPG and only those beneficiaries under Ujwala scheme were entitled for the subsidy announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 21. He said that from the early days of Kovid there was no subsidy for LPG consumers. He said that since then it was the only subsidy that was now given to the Ujwala beneficiaries.
Announcing a record reduction of Rs 8 per liter on excise duty on petrol and Rs 6 per liter on diesel, Union Finance Minister Sitharaman had said that the beneficiaries of Ujwala Yojana would get a subsidy of Rs 200 per cylinder on 12 cylinders a year. Will get
In the national capital, a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder costs Rs 1,003. Beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana will get a subsidy of Rs. 200 directly in their bank account and the effective price for them will be Rs. 803 per 14.2 kg cylinder. For the rest, it will cost Rs 1,003 in Delhi. The government will have to spend Rs 6,100 crore on a Rs 200 subsidy.
The government abolished subsidies on petrol in June 2010 and diesel in November 2014. After a few years, the subsidy on kerosene has come to an end and now for most people, the subsidy on LPG has come to an end effectively. However, there is no formal order to abolish subsidies for petrol, diesel and kerosene.
There are about 305 million LPG connections in the country. Out of this Rs. 9 crore has been provided under Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana. In the last six months, LPG rates have risen by only 7%, while Saudi CP (benchmark used for LPG prices) has risen by 43%.
