Oil minister denies reports suggesting 'no subsidized LPG to rich'

Much against the speculation, Oil Minister denied of government contemplating any proposal for discontinuing the supply of subsidized cooking gas (LPG) to the rich. However, it unveiled that public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) have given an option to existing LPG consumers to surrender their subsidy and switch to buying cooking gas at market price. This could be done by simply submitting a written request to the distributor or electronically via www. MyLPG. In. Earlier, reports suggested of LPG costing more to rich after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently indicated that government will now be looking to rationalize the LPG subsidy after having de-regulated petrol and diesel prices. He suggested that there was no need to give subsidy on LPG to people who were already well off. The Oil Minister, Pradhan on Monday in Lok Sabha pointed that only 12,471 out of about 15 crore LPG consumers have so far voluntarily given up their subsidies. As per existing policy, consumers are currently entitled to 12 14.2-kg cylinders or 34 5-kg bottles in a year at subsidized rates. However, any requirement above that has to be procured at market price, which stands at Rs 752 per 14.2-kg cylinder and Rs 351 per 5-kg bottle.  Meanwhile, a subsidized 14.2-kg cylinder is currently available at Rs 417 per bottle in Delhi, while the subsidized cooking gas is also available in 5-kg packs, costing Rs 155 per such cylinder in Delhi. Earlier in December, price of non-subsidized cooking gas (LPG) were slashed by a steep Rs 113 per cylinder and that of jet fuel (ATF) by 4.1% as international oil rates slumped to multi-year lows.