Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the ”exorbitant” price of the subsidized cylinder under the ‘Ujjwala Yojana’ is a ”spoiler” and asserted that a good scheme of subsidized cooking gas started by the UPA has practically perished due to the ”callous attitude” of the present government.
The measure of success of the Ujjwala scheme can be gauged only by the number of refills ordered by the beneficiary, Chidambaram said.
He said data shows that nearly 25 percent of beneficiaries order only one or two or three refills per year and in the remaining months they do not use LPG cylinders but use non-clean fuel.
”These are the poorest families among the beneficiaries. This proves conclusively that the exorbitant price of the subsidized cylinder (Rs 853) is the spoiler,” the former Union minister said.
”A good scheme started by the UPA government has practically perished because of the callous attitude of the present Government. The Government’s burden of subsidy has crashed from Rs 37,209 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 242 crore in 2021-22!” Chidambaram said.
