Veerappa Moily says no to 12-cylinder plan

Kochi: Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily on Saturday ruled out the possibility of raising the number of subsidised LPG cylinders  from the present nine to 12 a year for a family.

He told reporters here that there was no such proposal before the  government now. He said  the hike in LPG price would affect only 10 per cent of the population in the country as the remaining 90 per cent were availing of the subsidy.

“As the hike in LPG prices is confined to non-subsidised cylinders it will not affect the electoral prospects of the UPA,” he maintained.

On Thursday, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had said in New Delhi that the government will ‘take a look’ at the demand to raise the quota of subsidised LPG cylinders to 12 per household in a year.