Already battered by rising prices of essentials ranging from fruits and vegetables to edible oil and electricity, record high rates of cooking gas LPG have added to the woes of the common man, especially the lower strata. LPG rates this week were hiked by Rs 50 per 14.2-kg cylinder, taking the total increase in last one year to Rs 244 or 30 per cent.
Non-subsidised LPG — the price that all households except the poor women beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme pay, is now at Rs 1,053 per 14.2 kg cylinder. Ujjwala beneficiaries have to pay Rs 853. “LPG is smokeless but still it is bringing us tears,” rued M Mallika, a 38-year-old homemaker in Tenali town of Andhra Pradesh.
“In three months, the price has increased by Rs 150 per cylinder without taxes and overall it is about Rs 160. A cylinder is now Rs 1,075 (in Andhra Pradesh). It is certainly a heavy burden,” she said. Fuel rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT.
