The ire of people on cap on subsidised LPG cylinders came to fore at ‘poru baata’ (on agitation path) launched by the Communist Party of India (M) in the city and other parts of the district.
Party city secretary Ch. Babu Rao visited Rajiv Nagar, Prakash Nagar, AVS Reddy Road and other places in the city, while CPI(M) district secretary R. Raghu toured Mylavaram and Nandigama on Monday. The hike in gas prices and cap was the main grievance aired by the people at various places.
The people, more particularly women, were up in the arms against the government decision to limit the subsidised cylinders to six. Pointing to conventional stoves in front of their houses, the women said that the government was forcing them to depend on firewood to cook the food. The six cylinders in a year were not enough even for a small family. The government shouldn’t have taken such a decision, they felt.
The women who were running petty tiffin centres in front of their houses complained that the civil supplies officials took away their cylinders saying that commercial cylinders should be used in tiffin centres. With a great difficulty we manage to eke out livelihood by selling the tiffins. How we live if they take away our cylinders, they asked. The people complained that the rules laid down by gas companies were coming in the way of booking refill. The gas agencies were insisting to book the refills only through cell phones. It is difficult to comprehend as the reply would be through SMSes, they explained.
The CPI(M) leaders said that the government cut the subsidy on LPG cylinders to benefit the capitalists.
