Deploring the government for introducing a cap on subsidised LPG cylinders in an arbitrary manner, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas has asked the government to review the cap of six cylinders a household a year. It said such restrictions should not be placed on people having income below a threshold.
The panel, headed by Aruna Kumar Vundavalli, said it recommended last year ending supply of LPG cylinders to the rich and affluent sections who, it described as, people having annual income more than Rs. 6 lakh and those holding constitutional posts and public representatives such as MPs and MLAs. It had asked the government to review and amend the decision in line with the panel's recommendations.
“The committee deplores the move of the Petroleum Ministry to protect the decision of the government universally capping the availability of LPG cylinders at subsidised price to 6 cylinders per annum without any income stipulation,” a report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday said.
“The committee desires the said decision of universal capping of availability of subsidised LPG cylinder to be urgently reviewed and amended appropriately in line with the recommendation made by this committee.”
The subsidy should be more targeted. It asked the Ministry to start collecting information about their customers to facilitate decision to better target subsidy. However, it appreciated the move to ask consumers to fill up the Know Your Customer forms.
