Cooking gas LPG price is hiked by `25 per cylinder

New Delhi, Sept. 1: The prices of LPG cooking gas cylinders across all categories, including subsidised gas, were hiked by `25 per cylinder on Wednesday — the third straight increase in rates in less than two months. Subsidised as well as non-subsidised LPG now costs `884.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder in Delhi, according to a price notification of oil companies.

Subsidised and nonsubsidised LPG rates were hiked by `25.50 per cylinder on July 1. Nonsubsidised LPG rates rose by `25 per cylinder

on August 1 and by the same proportion on August 18. The latest increase in subsidised LPG price now has taken the cumulative rate hike since January 1 to `190 per cylinder.

The price of domestic cooking gas has more than doubled in the last seven years. The retail selling price of domestic gas was `410.5 per 14.2-kg cylinder on March 1, 2014.

Industry sources said the subsidised LPG price was not raised on August 1 because Parliament was in session and the government could have been attacked by the Opposition.

The BJP ally Janata Dal (United) demanded on Wednesday that the government roll back the hike in cooking gas cylinder prices and step in to check the rising fuel prices as these have affected common households.

JD(U) spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said the repeated hike in the LPG price has affected people’s budget adversely. “The government should roll back the hike,” he said.

He also spoke against leaving petrol and diesel prices to market mechanisms, and said the government must step in to curb their cost for people’s benefit.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s party has of late taken positions on certain issues that have raised eyebrows. Mr Kumar had backed the Opposition’s demand for a probe into the alleged snooping involving Pegasus spyware. He has also led the chorus for a caste census, a politically fraught issue over which the BJP has so far maintained silence.

The government policy provides for the supply of 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each per household at subsidised or below-market rates. Any quantity over this had to be bought at market price or non-subsidised rates.

However, monthly price increases have eliminated the subsidy. These monthly increases led to the elimination of subsidies by May 2020.

Barring a few far-flung areas, which get a small portion of freight subsidy, the price of subsidised and non-subsidised LPG in major cities is almost at par.

In Mumbai, a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder now costs `884.50 while in Kolkata, it is priced at `911 — the highest among the four metros.

The price of a 19-kg commercial cylinder has also been increased by `75, which will now cost `1,693 in Delhi.

Meanwhile, after remaining unchanged for more than a week, petrol price was cut by 10 paise a litre diesel by 14 paise. Petrol price in Delhi is now at `101.34 and in Mumbai, it is priced at `107.39 per litre. Diesel price in Delhi is now at `88.77 a litre in Mumbai at `96.33.