Car owners, please listen – the LPG subsidy may no longer be available for you, come March 2018. According to the recommendations of a parliamentary panel, only people with annual incomes lower than ₹6 lakh should be the beneficiaries of the LPG subsidy. Why then should the government also not be kind and sympathetic to those with higher incomes?
This facility may have been aimed for the benefit of poor people. However, it has predictably caused discomfort to households which can afford luxuries like cars. It is the modern-day version of a sturdy horse. This will impact car sales as well, because people will have to think twice about incurring the costs of buying and maintaining a car and that of buying expensive gas cylinders monthly.
So far, the subsidised cooking gas has provides us with a deep sense of enduring emotional and financial support.
The government might be thinking of car ownership as a show of status and wealth. So, at face value, it is possible that car owners might be barred from availing subsidised LPG cylinders.
A lot of people were benefiting from the subsidy, despite being car owners. This move could therefore be another whack on categorised car owners. Earlier, the people whose income exceeded ₹10 lakh annually, could not avail the LPG subsidy.
Instead, the government has launched the Give It Up campaign, rolled out DBTL in all districts, and has enforced the linking of LPG connections with Aadhaar cards for to target the issue of LPG subsidies.
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