THE SEN TIMES |
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Time has come to think on stopping LPG subsidy: Dharmendra Pradhanby Manisha Sen |
KOLKATA:
Urging the consumers to give up subsidy on LPG, Petroleum and Natural
Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today reiterated that the time had come
for the government to think on the issue.
Minister of State for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan
"The
finance minister asked me whether time has come to think of any income
brackets for consumers to avail of LPG subsidies. I told him it is
needed to think on this," Pradhan told reporters on the sidelines of a
CII seminar here.
He
said that since the time of implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer
(DBT), the government has been able to save Rs 15,000 crore in the last
fiscal.
Pradhan said, three crore duplicate LPG connections were terminated, which had led to this savings.
The
minister also said the government was also planning to include kerosene
in line with LPG for targetting the subsidies effectively.
Voluntary
surrender of LPG subsidies was the lowest in the East, while the figure
for Kolkata was less than one lakh as against the national total of 46
lakh, he said.
