The government has withdrawn its order to state-run oil companies to raise the prices of cooking gas by Rs 4 per cylinder every month, PTI reported on Thursday.
The move was withdrawn in October as it was contrary to Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi’s Ujjwala scheme, which aimed to provide cooking gas connections to the poor, the report said, citing an unidentified official.
In July 2016, the government had asked Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to raise rates of subsidised Liquefied Petroleum Gas by Rs 2 per cylinder, excluding Value Added Tax. From June, they were ordered to raise it by Rs 4. However, since the withdrawal of the order in October, the state-run oil companies have not increased the prices, the official said.
There are 18.11 crore customers of subsidised LPG, and about 2.66 crore non-subsidised cooking gas users in the country.
Currently, subsidised cooking gas costs Rs 495.69 per cylinder in New Delhi, Rs 498.38 per cylinder in Mumbai, Rs 498.43 in Kolkata and Rs 483.69 in Chennai. A 14.2-kg non-subsidised Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinder costs Rs 747 in Delhi, Rs 719 in Mumbai, Rs 766 in Kolkata and Rs 756 in Chennai.
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