People's Democracy

Ensure Adequate Supplies Of Kerosene And LPG

THE central executive committee of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), which met at New Delhi on November 15-16, expressed deep concern at the reduction in supplies of kerosene that has led to severe shortages and a massive increase in prices across the country.

In a statement issued on November 16, the AIDWA president, Subhashini Ali and general secretary, Sudha Sundararaman demanded that the central government take immediate steps to ensure an adequate supply of kerosene through the Public Distribution System. It also wanted stern measures taken against those indulging in blackmarketing of LPG and kerosene. The AIDWA will observe a protest day all over the country to press for these demands on December 1, 2005, and meet the petroleum minister with a memorandum. It has asserted that the government should continue to provide LPG and kerosene at subsidized prices.

The current shortage has led to kerosene prices skyrocketing to between Rs 35 and Rs 50 in the blackmarket. As a result, in many places, 10 litres of kerosene cost more than a LPG cylinder! Coupled with the shortages in LPG, this is leading to greater and greater burdens on women, already coping with increasing prices of other essential commodities. In this context, AIDWA strongly protested the outrageous comment made by petroleum minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar that if women reduced their expenditure on saris and films, the Rs 100 increase in prices of LPG could be managed.

The AIDWA felt that the central government was permitting such a situation in order to control the losses of public sector oil companies in the context of the rising international price of crude oil. “There is also a move to introduce differential pricing for LPG and kerosene. However, instead of squeezing the ordinary citizens, the government should put into place alternative policies that include a complete overhauling of the existing tax structure of petroleum products”, it stated.