New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday slammed the Modi government over the hike in prices of LPG cylinders saying that it has brought pain for middle class families.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “In the last 15 days, the prices of LPG have gone up by Rs 100 per cylinder. This has not just upset the monthly budget of families but has brought about huge pain for the middle class, for the poor, for the lower middle class who find it extremely untenable to buy gas cylinders at Rs 694 and Rs 640 depending on the districts where they are residing.”
Citing the example of Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, Shrinate said that the liquified petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders are being sold for Rs 757 and one can compare it to the subsidised and the non-subsidised cylinders in 2014.
“The picture is very, very stark, in 2014, subsidised cylinders were being sold for Rs 412, they are now being sold for Rs 595, up by Rs 183,” she said.
She further said that the non-subsidised cylinders were sold for Rs 574, while today they are being sold for Rs 694.
Petrol, diesel prices
“This government has raised prices of petrol and diesel. There is huge taxation. We were taxing petrol at Rs 9.20 per litre, diesel at Rs 3.50 per litre. Today the taxation on petrol is over Rs 32.98 per liter, and on diesel it is over Rs 31.83 per liter,” she said, adding that the BJP government across its first and second tenure so far has increased excise duty almost a dozen times and has earned about Rs 22 lakh crore.
She urged the government to give some relief to the common people as they are reeling under economic slowdown, joblessness, wage cuts and mismanagement of the Indian economy during the lockdown.
“Please, bring some respite for the common man. The common man is extremely puzzled,” she said.
Profit, burden
She said that when there is scope to earn profit the government alone will earn all the profits. But when there is scope to share the burden the common man has to share the burden.
“This we believe is extremely unfortunate, it is insensitive and this also reflects complete lack of economic management. Anybody who understands economics will understand and will know that to spur consumption, you will have to lower prices,” she said.