All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Szarita Laitphlang on Sunday said that in view of the spiralling cooking gas cylinder price, the day is not far when women will have to bid adieu to LPG and go back to firewood for cooking. The price of LPG cylinder, which was Rs 410 in 2014, has shot up to Rs 999 with ‘zero subsidy’ in 2022 triggering fire in the kitchens, she claimed.

“In the past 45 days, the Modi government has hiked the LPG cylinder price by Rs 100. If this trend continues, the day is not far when the women will have to offer shraddhanjali to LPG cylinders and go back to old age method of cooking in firewood”, Laitphlang said during a press conference in Congress Bhavan.

She said, “The petrol price has already crossed three-digit mark while price of diesel and CNG are also going up. The poor people are the worst sufferers …”.

The AICC secretary claimed around 23 million BPL people have upgraded to APL status during UPA regime but under the BJP era, around 37 million people have been pushed towards BPL.

The Congress leader sought the prime minister’s intervention to arrest the spiralling price rise as it appears unbearable for the common people.

Tripura Pradesh Congress president Birajit Sinha said the people of the state are still in dark about the Covid casualty referring to the WHO’s recent revelation that India’s Covid fatality stood at 47 lakh while the Centre claimed it was only 5.24 lakh.