NEW DELHI, OCT 10 :
There are 24.5 crore cooking gas customers, of which about two crore do not get subsidy. Over 1 crore customers gave up subsidy, responding to a call by the government to surrender subsidy so that scarce state resources can be allocated to the needy. The good news: By reallocating subsidy from better-off to poor customers, the government has been able to expand the use of cleaner cooking gas at a faster pace.
The bad news: Rocketing oil prices have pushed up the domestic rate of non-subsidised cooking gas by Rs 389 a cylinder, or 79%, in the last two years, the steepest among all dominant kitchen fuels, setting a chatter among consumers if they can reclaim subsidy they gave up a few years ago. By comparison, the price of cooking gas sold below market rates has risen just 17.6% in two years. This has meant a six-fold rise in subsidy to Rs 376.6 on a 14-kg cylinder from Rs 62.9 two years ago.
Claim it back? Anyone planning to receive cooking gas subsidy must submit a request to her gas agency with a declaration that her annual income is Rs 10 lakh or less. Aadhaar and bank account details would also be necessary for receiving the benefit.
Meanwhile, rupee continues to be in free fall (it hit another ‘record low’ of 74.39 against the US dollar on Tuesday) and crude continues to rise, which means cooking gas will keep getting expensive and subsidy rising, bringing the question of giving up or claiming what you gave up back again.
