Kerosene quota reduction puts state government in tight spot

JAIPUR: After the Centre limited the subsidy on sugar for BPL families, the Union petroleum ministry's decision to reduce the allotment of kerosene by about 37% has the state worried as it could affect the pro-poor image of the BJP government.
From earlier bearing the entire subsidy, the Union government had recently decided to fix the subsidy on sugar given to BPL and Andyodaya beneficiaries at Rs 18.50.
As a result, the state government was forced to increase the price of sugar distributed through the PDS from Rs 13.50 to Rs 20 per kg to BPL families.
Now, in a double whammy, the petroleum ministry has decided to reduce the quantum of kerosene distributed through PDS.
According to the ministry, the decision to reduce kerosene was taken after deducting the quota of new LPG connection beneficiaries under the Ujjwala Yojana scheme.
However, oil companies have not uploaded the list of Ujjwala beneficiaries or given the same to the state food and civil supplies department. So, the department has been forced to reduce the quantity of kerosene to all existing beneficiaries.
In a letter to the Union petroleum and natural gas ministry, principal secretary Subodh Agarwal pointed out that, as per existing data, the state has 93,63,780 consumers of kerosene and requires 37,455 kilo litres for supply at the rate of four litres per month/per ration card.
But the supply of kerosene by the Union ministry has fallen to 23,676 kilo litres. So, the government has been forced to reduce the quantity of kerosene to beneficiaries from four litres per month to 2.5 litres.
He wanted the supply maintained at the previous level until the data of LPG consumers was fed into the system. He said the decision of the petroleum ministry was likely to cause strong resentment among people, especially tribals.