Laxmi Gupta is having a hard time putting food on the plate for her six-member family. Just two months ago, this homemaker could buy six litres of subsidised kerosene given to BPL and APL families. However, a recent decision of the Maharashtra government to slash kerosene subsidy has strained her meagre means. Ms. Gupta is bearing the brunt of the State government’s shrewd interpretation of a court directive.
On August 20, the State issued a GR (government resolution) that revised the kerosene subsidy of the rural and urban poor across Maharashtra. According to the new rules, one person is entitled to two litres of kerosene every month.
Two persons are given three litres and three and above get four litres.
The government cited an order of the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court as a reason for the revised rates. The court order of July 1 had directed the government to provide ‘equal quota for the residents of urban and rural areas’. The court had called for parity in kerosene distribution as urban areas received a higher quota of kerosene than the rural areas. Instead of raising the quota of the rural poor, the government capped the allocation at four litres for urban areas too.
“We need about 20 litres of kerosene a month. All we get is four litres. This is a steep fall from what we used to get. When we asked the reason, the ration shop said ‘upar se order aya hai [there are orders from above].’ A year ago, we got 15 litres every fortnight. This has been going down gradually. Now with just four litres, we buy nearly the entire quantity of our kerosene requirement from the black market,” Ms. Gupta said.
Her family has an orange card meant for APL (above poverty line) category. Her husband, a taxi driver, barely makes about Rs.5,000 a month. Getting an LPG connection would cost him two whole salaries. The subsidised kerosene costs Rs.16 a litre. In the black market, it is sold anywhere between Rs.60 and Rs.100. That means BPL and APL families in the slums of Mumbai are spending a big chunk of their income on fuel.
“Earlier, the allocation was 10 to 15 litres. But that was only on paper. We are giving kerosene to those without a gas connection. The quantity of kerosene we get from the Centre is about 53,000 kilolitres, which we can disburse. The supply of kerosene is just 30 per cent of our total requirement,” an officer from the Food and Civil Supplies department said.
Pankhi Agarwal of Jan Jangriti Sangharsh Samiti said, “While they cut subsidy, there was no parallel drive in the basis for LPG connections.” The reduction in allocation is driving some families in the slum of Maharashtra Nagar in Mankhurd to a nearby jungle to forage for firewood.
