Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 19: JKPCC vice president Raman Bhalla today hit out at the Government over the hike in prices of LPG cylinders, accusing it of being insensitive and distorting the budget of every household.
The Congress leader urged the Government to bring down prices of LPG cylinders to provide relief to the common people in the country. He said that the Government has initiated the very steep hike on LPG cylinders by raising it by Rs 25 per cylinder, which is now being sold at Rs 911 per cylinder in J&K and is touching almost Rs 1000 in various parts of the country. He demanded Govt to bring some respite to people, think about the plight of people and bring down prices of LPG cylinders. This is anti-women and anti-people and due to high prices people are forced to go back to using cow dung and firewood,” he said.
“We do hope that an insensitive government intoxicated on power will pay some attention and bring some respite to people. This is absolutely immoral and there is no word to describe this,” he said. In the last eight or nine months alone, prices of LPG cylinders have gone up by Rs 265, which is almost 44 percent, he said.
Former Minister was listening to grievances of aggrieved people of Bagh-e-Bahu area of Gandhi Nagar constituency today. Prominent among those present on the occasion include Block president Jatinder Singh Chib, Ward president Latish Sharma, Ward president Diwan Chand, Mulkh Raj, Sahil Shavotra, Tara Chand, Pawan Chalotra and others.
Bhalla further alleged that the Government is not paying any subsidy on LPG cylinders and there is no difference between the market and controlled prices. On the much-touted Ujjwala Yojna, he said the reality is that beneficiaries of the scheme cannot afford a cylinder at Rs 800 at a time when 97 per cent of people are earning less than what they were three years back and 23 crore people have gone below the poverty line.
“At what stage will the government realise that during the economic crisis, when people have lost jobs and their wages have gone down and when people are looking for employment opportunities, they should not distort their home budgets,” he aid.
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