Bhopal: A day after Delhi election results were announced, the state-run oil companies raised the cost of cooking gas per cylinder by Rs 142-149 on Wednesday.
This is the sixth hike straight in a row and the steepest one in last six years, effective immediately.
The marketing companies have been increasing the prices of cooking gas since August last year, burning a hole in the pockets of a common man.
Bright sunshine in the capital city seemed restless when the government announced the hike early in the morning. Housewives worried the disarrayed budget while the wallets of the bread-winners had them tensed.
Suhasini Badwe, a businesswoman and resident of Vaishali Nagar, told Free Press that the hike in price was properly timed. The PM could not handle the defeat and set out to trouble the people, she said.
A housewife Sheeba Khatoon said the lower-middle class has always been the supreme target of this government. LPG is a set of Salwar-Kameez from Chowk Bazar, on which the government has put a price tag of DB mall, she explained.
Bank employee Yogesh Tripathi who is a resident of Old Subhash Nagar, said the government gave just another point to worry about. Middle class people fight a new struggle everyday just to earn their daily bread, and people on the top enjoy the show with popcorn in their hands, he said.
Shivanshi Moghe, a retired professor and resident of Bharti Niketan, said there has been a pattern of price hike in the current governance. They increase the prices after every poll like that of 17th Lok Sabha and Karnataka Vidhan Sabha election, she said.
Prices of fruits, vegetables, pulses, daily-use products and now gas, people never appear to be a priority, Moghe added.
Modi should apologise in public: Oza
Bhopal: Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza said PM Narendra Modi should seek apology on a public domain for failing to check inflation. The price-hike has disturbed the family budget, she said. Hike in LPG cost was pre-planned, Oza added. Just after the results of Delhi elections were announced, Oza said, the government got back to its original approach. Inflation already has given enough sleepless nights to middle-class, she said.
