PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
The chairman of the election management committee of Uttarakhand Congress, Harak Singh Rawat opined that the flawed foreign policy of the BJP-led Union government is responsible for the LPG crisis in the country. Addressing the media here on Monday, Rawat said that earlier India followed the policy of non-alignment and used to procure cheap and easy to transport oil and gas from Iran and other gulf countries but now under pressure from USA, the policy of the country has changed. He said the ships from the Gulf countries used to reach India in six to seven days but now the ships coming from the USA are taking 55 to 60 days to arrive. The Congress leader said that in 2014 India used to import 47 per cent of its gas and 83 per cent of oil needs which has now jumped to 66 per cent and 88 per cent respectively. The government is making no effort to increase production, he said.
Rawat alleged that instead of accepting the problems in distribution of LPG, the government is misleading the people. He said that the government has set up a time gap of 25 and 45 days between delivery and second booking in urban and rural areas respectively which is proof of the LPG crisis.
Rawat said that due to the expansion of urban local bodies in all parts of the State, the areas which earlier were classified as rural have changed to urban but the government has not changed the classification of the gas agencies accordingly due to which their customers residing now in municipal areas are considered rural for LPG distribution. He demanded that the government should classify all those gas agencies located in the municipal areas as urban agencies.
Rawat also claimed that large-scale black marketing of the LPG cylinders is occurring due to the ban on sale of commercial gas cylinders. Raising the issue of misuse of the CM discretionary fund, Rawat said that data available under Right to Information (RTI) query shows that in Udham Singh Nagar and Champawat districts people associated with ruling BJP have availed benefit of the scheme repeatedly. He claimed that while Rs 3,000 to 5,000 is given to common people, many have received Rs one lakh to two lakhs from the CM discretionary fund.
