Meeting on dual pricing for LPG a non-starter
16 Sep 2011
The scheduled meeting of a panel of ministers today to consider limiting the number of LPG or cooking gas cylinders a household could buy at subsidised rates was today indefinitely deferred.
The proposal was that households should get only four to six cylinders a year at subsidised rates, and should pay market rates for refills after that.
The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was scheduled to meet at 1.30 pm, but the meeting was called off, officially because of the unavailability of some ministers.
But most observers feel the real reason was the unrelenting opposition of some key Congress allies in the UPA government, mainly the M Karunanidhi-led DMK and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, were opposed tooth and nail to the proposal.
Even Sharad Pawar's NCP was not too keen on it.
In fact, these parties have been demanding a rollback in the steep hike of over Rs3 a litre on petrol affected yesterday.
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