Congress Members of Parliament on Friday met Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily and asked for raise in the number of subsidized LPG cylinders from 9 to 12 annually.
In April last year, the central government increased the quota of subsidized LPG cylinders from six to nine for each household annually.
The leaders, who met Moily, include two MPs from Delhi Sandeep Dikshit and Mahabal Mishra, Lok Sabha member from Maharashtra Sanjay Nirupam, party spokesperson P C Chacko and Bharatpur MP Ratan Singh from Rajasthan.
"Our friends have been taking up this issue earlier also. We have been considering it. We will seriously consider it. " Moily said.
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"But at the same I would also like to mention that about 73-75 per cent of all petroleum products, including LPG are imported by the country and the price of these products is determined by the OPEC countries and the Middle East without any consideration to the paying capacity of the consumers," he said.
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He further spelt out the economic consideration which had compelled the government to restrict the supply of subsidised cylinders to the nearly 15 crore LPG consumers in the country.
"There are 15 crore consumers of LPG. We need to sustain the supply. If you conserve 8-9000, the LPG prices can be reduced," he added.