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While the Centre has maintained there will be ‘no rollback’, the Congress-led State Government in Delhi extended the cap on subsidised domestic LPG cylinders to nine each household annually.
At a Cabinet meeting here on Monday the Delhi Government, which faces elections in 2013, decided to provide three more cylinders to BPL families on subsidy rates.
Indications are that some other States may also join the bandwagon. The Trinamool Congress has demanded at least 24 subsidised cylinders for a family in a year. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said 3.5 lakh people, who are beneficiaries of Kerosene Free Dilli scheme, will get three more cylinders at the subsidised rate.
Meanwhile, the Congress Party has been asking the State Governments to provide “maximum benefits” for the consumers by providing tax relief. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the Central Government has done whatever is “doable” on LPG cylinders.
The BJP, in the meantime, said there was no point in increasing the number of subsidised cylinders from six to nine. Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the Centre should not put any cap on the number of cylinders on a subsidised rate.
The party said one family of four persons requires at least one LPG cylinder a month. “Now they will pay Rs 2,400 extra for the unsubsidised LPG in a year,” he said.
He added that the Standing Committee on petroleum and natural gas had opposed putting ceiling on cylinders and instead recommended that affluent sections should be brought out of the subsidy regime.
FDI Restrictions:
The BJP said the Government’s move to allow State Governments to take the final decision on allowing FDI in retail will be struck down by the courts.
Congress confident
The Congress said it is confident of managing the trust of allies and supporters.
The party said the Government’s managers are in touch with the alliance leaders to convince them about the pro-reform decisions. Congress President Sonia Gandhi held discussions with senior ministers and Congress leaders on the situation after the new decisions.
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