NEW DELHI, Apr 1:
The kitchens which serve eight lakh paramilitary personnel are reeling under the cap on subsidised LPG cylinders and the forces have now turned to the Home Ministry for relief.
Hit hard by the new norms of the Petroleum and Natural Gas ministry, the chiefs of forces like BSF, CRPF, ITBP, CISF, SSB and NSG have approached the Home Ministry seeking its intervention.
“The kitchens of paramilitary forces have been hit hard by the new cap on subsidised cylinders. There are occasions when we had to curtail some of our functions due to constraints in usage of gas cylinders,” a senior official said.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has assured the forces of help.
“I will talk to the people concerned in this regard and even to my counterpart in the PNG ministry. We will look if some enhanced subsidy could be given or the ration money of the forces could be increased,” Shinde told.
The forces say that their ‘rasois’ (kitchens) spread across various locations in the country can only get nine subsidised domestic cylinders a month under the new norms which is not sufficient as they cater to a formation ranging from a company (100 personnel) to a battalion (1,000 personnel).
“Many times a kitchen of a unit has to cater to touring officials which adds to the burden and hence we are hard pressed after the new directives of the PNG ministry,” the official said.
The forces have requested that their subsidy cap could be enhanced to 12 cylinders per month and also suggested that if their ration money allowance is enhanced they would be able to spend more to purchase cylinders beyond the subsidy limit.
While in the first case it is the PNG ministry that will have to take a decision, in case of the second suggestion the Home Ministry will have to consult and approach the Finance Ministry to seek enhancement in the ration money. (PTI)
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