NEW DELHI, Aug 29: The Centre on Tuesday announced slashing of the domestic LPG gas cylinder prices up to Rs 200 per cylinder on the occasion of Onam and Raksha Bandhan festivals.
Announcing this, the Union Minister Anurag Thakur said the union cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday approved the reduction in the gas cylinder prices. The cabinet also approved free LPG connection to 75 lakh women under Ujjwala scheme. All beneficiaries under the Ujjwala scheme will now get ₹400 subsidy per LPG cylinder. The domestic LPG rates were last changed in March when the prices of cylinders were raised by Rs 50 and commercial cylinders by Rs 350.50 per unit.
At present, a 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder in the national capital costs ₹1,103 – more than double the rate it came for in May 2020, which from Wednesday after the price cut will cost ₹903 and ₹703 to the consumers under the Ujjwala scheme.
Moreover, the government announced additional 75 lakh Ujjwala connections, which will take the total Ujjwala yojana beneficiaries to 10.35 crore. While Ujjwala beneficiaries are only 9.6 crore, there are some 31 crore domestic cooking gas users in the country.
The government in June 2020 had stopped giving LPG subsidies. Cooking gas across the country was priced at market rate, which rose to ₹1,103 in the national capital.
India is dependent on imports for 60 per cent of its natural gas requirements.
(Manas Dasgupta)