High price of LPG cylinders forcing the poor to return to firewood

At the price of Rs 819, LPG refills beyond the reach of most PMUY beneficiaries.

Nisha, a mother of five daughters in Bagsara village in Uttar Pradesh, is back to working in a smoky kitchen as she is once again using firewood and cowdung as her cooking fuel. She and her husband, who is a carpenter, cannot afford the domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders whose prices have shot up sharply since November last year.

Nisha had got an LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) three years ago. But the steep rise in the price of cylinders has put them beyond her reach. “The cylinder is just too expensive for us now.