The price of household cooking gas LPG for beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) is the lowest in India when compared to prices in neighboring nations, said Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
During Question Hour in the Upper House, the minister said that India imports 60% of its LPG requirements. Despite unpredictable and high worldwide LPG prices, the government absorbed them and kept Ujjwala recipients’ costs down.
“Ujjwala cylinders are priced at Rs 603.” It costs Rs 1,059.46 in Pakistan, Rs 1,033.35 in Sri Lanka, and Rs 1,198.56 in Nepal. We offer LPG cylinders at half the price.”We’ve absorbed the global price increase, which is why cylinders are the cheapest in India,” he said. In two years, the price of LPG in Saudi Arabia has risen from USD 415 per tonne to USD 700-odd per tonne, but the government has absorbed the cost hike, he added.
According to the minister, PMUY usage has increased to 2.8 cylinders per home per year. The number of connections under the plan has also climbed to 9.6 crore, with higher use. In response to a question on the number of lives saved as a result of the PMUY’s implementation, Puri said that switching from traditional firewood, kerosene, and coal to a cleaner gas medium had major health advantages, particularly for women.
It is, nevertheless, impossible to measure accurately. In response to a question on the number of lives saved as a result of the PMUY’s implementation, Puri said that switching from traditional firewood, kerosene, and coal to a cleaner gas medium had major health advantages, particularly for women. It is, nevertheless, impossible to measure accurately.
He said that the overall number of cooking gas connections in the nation has climbed from 14 crore in 2014 to 33 crore. The PMUY accounts for 9.6 crore of these connections. According to him, the government has planned to grant an extra 75 lakh gas connections under the project, of which 34 lakh have already been completed.
In response to another question on adopting the auditor CAG recommendations on PMUY, the minister said that all of the recommendations were considered when adjusting the plan. “We take CAG recommendations very seriously unlike the previous dispensation,” he went on to say.
In response to a question on the quantity of oil bonds issued by the UPA-2 government, the minister said that the inquiry is specifically about the Ujjwala plan. The member’s inquiry concerns the price increase caused by the issuing of oil bonds. Between 2004 and 2014, around Rs 1.41 lakh crore in oil bonds were issued, for which the “second generation” (current government) is paying Rs 3.50 lakh crore.
“It was an irresponsible governance model,” he said, adding that the present administration, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has taken several initiatives to address the price increase. On two occasions, the government diversified supply sources and decreased the federal excise charge on fuel and diesel. As a consequence, the government lost Rs 2.2 lakh crore in income, he claimed.
BJP-ruled states also slashed VAT on gasoline and diesel, resulting in two separate rates for gasoline and diesel. The petrol was available for Rs 96 per liter in BJP-ruled states, a difference of Rs 12 per liter from pricing in Congress-ruled states, he noted.
