'Smokeless' Cooking Gas Burns A Hole In Common Man's Pocket As Price Rise 30% In A Year

Continuous hiking of cooking gas prices in the country, amid severe food inflation, has burnt a hole in the common man's pocket this year.

This year alone, the price of cooking gas was hiked by 30 per cent.

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.

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"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.

The increase in prices has particularly affected the lower income group such as housemaids, drivers, security guards, daily wagers, salesmen and waiters who earn between Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per month. The cooking fuel bill alone is around 10 per cent of their earnings.

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"It's quite difficult for us to afford cooking gas cylinders these days. Every month the price of domestic gas cylinders is hiked, making our home budget bill even more difficult to balance... we are looking at alternate ways of cooking...maybe solar, maybe something else," said Nupur Dasgupta, an SBI employee and resident of Kolkata's Golpark area.

Swapna Mukherjee, a homemaker in Dumdum in Kolkata, said she was thinking of using a kerosene stove alongside cooking gas stoves to keep a check on her monthly expenses.

"Our monthly expenses have gone up drastically and it is becoming tough. We require two gas cylinders in one month, but I think we will surrender one connection and start using kerosene again," she said.

Cooking gas prices have risen on eight occasions in the last year. International oil and gas prices have soared on fears of supply disruptions after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Rates have fallen in recent days on talks of recession in the world's largest oil consumer, the US.