Mumbai: Bring back LPG subsidy, say pandemic-hit poor – Times of India

Mumbai: Low-income group families in Mumbai are suffering in the absence of LPG subsidy amid the Covid-19 pandemic for over a year. Members of many of these families work as maids, cooks, peons and drivers, and they are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Some have lost jobs and switched to selling vegetables while others have faced pay cuts in their jobs, and the removal of gas subsidy has come as a jolt to them. The cost of a 14.2kg gas cylinder in Mumbai on Tuesday was Rs 834.50.
Lata Mahendra, who works as a maid in Chembur, said: “It is frustrating that in these trying times, I am not getting the subsidy amount credited to my bank account. I have to pay full price for an LPG cylinder which is essential for cooking at home.”
Many like her have started conserving gas to extend the use of a single cylinder to two to three months instead of one. Some have stopped taking LPG and moved to kerosene stoves.
Sangita Surve, who works as a cook, said: “We have expenses mounting during the pandemic and the subsidy helped us save at least Rs 400-500 per cylinder every month. The transportation costs went up as local trains were shut and many like us had to spend a lot on public transport to reach our workplace.”
Her husband is unemployed while her son works in a private firm but does not earn much.
Another maid working in Mulund, requesting anonymity, said that the government should have considered the plight of the low-income groups in cities on “humanitarian grounds” and continued the subsidy.
According to sources in oil marketing companies, the subsidies were discontinued by the government in metro and major cities but are being given only in a few remote and interior areas in the country. The sources said that since June 2020, the government has not been depositing the subsidy in bank accounts. This is because of fluctuations in global oil prices last year, due to which the price of gas without subsidy was almost close to the price at which the subsidy was given, said sources.
Citizens pointed out that prices had increased drastically in a year, from crossing Rs 600 mark in November to over Rs 700 in February and crossing Rs 800 mark in May. It was heading towards the Rs 1000 mark, and so there was an urgent need for subsidy, said many people.