New Delhi:
The Delhi government's decision to withdraw Value-Added Tax (VAT) on cooking gas means the price of gas cylinders will increase by Rs 25 rather than the Rs 40 provisioned by the Delhi Budget.
Earlier this month, the Delhi government in a controversial move withdrew subsidies that led to the prices of gas shooting up by Rs 40 a cylinder.
On Monday afternoon, 22 BJP MLAS were arrested for unruly behavior in the Assembly; they say they were protesting the price hike of CNG. (
Read: Delhi Assembly: 22 BJP MLAs arrested)
In its budget announced last week, the Delhi government said that it was short of money for the Commonwealth Games and that ending the fuel subsidy was one way of helping to meet unforeseen expenditure for the Games.
Political opponents were quick to point out with the city having re-elected the Sheila Dikshit government last year, the Chief Minister is now being dismissive of the middle class and the poor whose household costs would shoot up as a result of her new budget.
Amid that sort of criticism, and a reported rebuke from the Congress' central leadership, Dikshit, appearing on NDTV's The Buck Stops Here said she was open to rethinking the new LPG prices.
The Rs 40 subsidy on LPG cylinders was introduced in July 2008.