Chingam 1 was eagerly awaited amid the COVID-19 hardship, but the news of a ₹25-hike in liquified petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder prices on Tuesday put a damper on the celebrations of countless households.
Already reeling from the economic challenges of the second wave of the pandemic and rising fuel prices, families have been dealt a heavy blow with the latest increase in LPG cylinder prices.
A domestic gas cylinder cost ₹866 in Kochi and ₹869 in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, upsetting domestic budgets.
S. Anusha, who works in a private company in Kochi, said she had seen her salary slashed in the wake of the pandemic and the constant increase in domestic gas prices would affect the family budget.
Deepthi George, a homemaker, said the price rise would hit calculations for monthly expenses in a household such as hers.
Prices had been hiked multiple times since December last, consumers pointed out.
An elderly homemaker in Poojappura in the State capital who dug out her old LPG gas cylinder invoices said a cylinder cost ₹703.50 on December 19 last year. On May 10, she paid ₹818.50 for it, and on August 14, ₹844. Now, she would have to shell out ₹25 more.
The price for the 14.2-kg domestic cylinders was last hiked on July 1 by ₹25.5. On August 1, the prices of the 19-kg commercial LPG cyclinders were hiked, but the domestic cylinder rates were left unchanged. The latest hike has left consumers an anxious lot, with several households in rural Kozhikode turning to firewood once again.
Shibina Manoj, a homemaker from Koyilandy, said she made everything other than tea on her earthen stove now that she could not afford cooking gas. “We were all asked to migrate from firewood to cooking gas to stop air pollution. Now the price of cooking gas has defeated the purpose of migrating to it.”
While rural families have the option of firewood, the urban population has no such reprieve. “We need at least one-and-a-half cylinders of cooking gas for a month. That is almost ₹1,300 off my meagre salary. I don’t know how we will manage ahead,” K.C. Beena who works in a car dealership in Kozhikode said.
A gas distributor in Ernakulam said frequent price rise landed dealers in trouble as bills for delivery of cylinder on a day that had been printed the previous day had to be cancelled and new bills printed, leading to delays in deliveries.
