Modi govt intoxicated on power: Congress on reduction in number of subsidised Ujjwala refills

The Congress on Tuesday criticised the Centre over the reduction in the number of subsidised LPG cylinder refills available under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana PMUY alleging that the government has failed to protect poor households from rising cooking gas costsThe opposition party claimed that the move would further burden economically weaker families and force many beneficiaries to return to traditional cooking methods due to the rising cost of LPG refillsKharge questions reduction in subsidised cylinder refillsCongress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the governments poverty alleviation measures were falling short of their promises arguing that welfare benefits for vulnerable sections were being gradually reducedReferring to the Ujjwala scheme Kharge noted that when it was launched in 2016 the government had projected it as a major initiative to free women from the health hazards associated with smoke from traditional cooking stovesAccording to Kharge beneficiaries were initially promised access to 12 subsidised LPG cylinders annually He pointed out that the number of subsidised refills was reduced to nine last year and has now been further cut to four refills a yearThe promise was 12 cylinders but the reality is that only four subsidised refills are now available Kharge said in a post on social mediaCongress raises concerns over affordabilityThe Congress leader also alleged that repeated increases in LPG prices have made refills unaffordable for millions of beneficiariesHe claimed that a large number of households enrolled under the scheme were unable to regularly refill their cylinders due to rising costs forcing them to revert to traditional cooking fuelsKharge further accused the government of ignoring the hardships faced by women from lowincome families despite publicly highlighting their welfareThe Congress has repeatedly raised concerns over the affordability of cooking gas arguing that subsidy reductions and price increases have undermined the benefits originally envisioned under the schemeDomestic LPG prices witness fresh increaseThe criticism comes days after the price of a 142kg domestic LPG cylinder in Delhi was increased from Rs 913 to Rs 942Under the current structure beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana receive a subsidy of Rs 300 per refill on the first four cylinders purchased annually bringing the effective price to Rs 642 per cylinderThe latest revision follows a Rs 60 increase announced in March taking the cumulative hike in domestic LPG prices to Rs 89 per cylinder over the past few monthsIndustry estimates suggest that staterun oil marketing companies were incurring significant losses on domestic LPG sales before the most recent price revisionGovernment cites global energy market pressuresThe Centre has defended the pricing decisions stating that Indian households continue to pay among the lowest cooking gas prices globally despite a sharp rise in international energy costsAccording to the government disruptions in West Asia following the outbreak of conflict earlier this year have led to a significant increase in global LPG pricesOfficials have stated that the cost of supplying a domestic LPG cylinder has risen substantially and now exceeds Rs 1600 per cylinder putting pressure on public sector oil marketing companiesThe government maintains that subsidies under the Ujjwala scheme continue to provide meaningful support to eligible households while opposition parties argue that the reduction in subsidised refills has diluted the schemes intended benefits for poor familiesWith inputs from PTI