Oil minister thanks Mistry for endorsing LPG 'Give it up' campaign

LPG accounted for 33% of OMCs' gross under-recoveries of Rs 139,000 cr on sales of subsidized petroleum products

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday thanked Tata group Chairman Cyrus Mistry for endorsing the ‘Give it Up’ campaign of the ministry. The campaign, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 27 at the annual energy-focussed summit Urja Sangam 2015, is aimed at encouraging people, who can afford to, to give up liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy. The prime minister asked companies and banks to encourage their employees to give up the subsidy on LPG. In a press release, Pradhan complimented Mistry “for the initiative by which employees will forego LPG subsidy component and the amount will be re-deployed towards nation-building.” LPG subsidy accounted for 33 per cent of oil marketing companies’ gross under-recoveries of Rs 1.39-lakh crore on sale of subsidised petroleum products below cost. The government has launched the modified direct benefits transfer scheme to cut leakages in subsidised cooking gas cylinders.

Modi had announced last month that more than 280,000 people have given up LPG subsidies leading to savings of over Rs 100 crore in the past 10 months. Oil Minister Pradhan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi and Power Minister Piyush Goyal are among the persons who have given up LPG subsidy.