The price of cooking gas was hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder on Wednesday, the eighth increase in rates in the last one year that took the cumulative rise to Rs 244 per cylinder or 30 per cent. Non-subsidised LPG now costs Rs 1,053 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital, up from Rs 1,003 previously, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

In Calcutta, the price of Indane gas has been raised to Rs 1,079 from Rs 1,029. Common households pay non-subsidised rates for the cooking gas they buy after the government restricted subsidy to just poor beneficiaries who got connections under the Ujjwala scheme.

This is the fourth increase in the LPG rate since the Ukraine war. The price was hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder on March 22 and again on May 7.

Rates went up by Rs 3.50 per cylinder on May 19. Of the Rs 244 per cylinder hike in the past year, Rs 153.50 increase happened since March 2022. Opposition Cong ress termed the increase “anti-people” decision and asked if this is the “cost” of toppling the Maharashtra government.

In a tweet in Hindi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the BJP spoke of the welfare of the poor at its national executive meeting while imposing a 5 per cent “Gabbar Singh Tax (GST)” on flour, cereals, curd and paneer, and then broke the back of the poor and middle class by increasing the price of domestic cooking gas by Rs 50. Petrol and diesel prices, however, continue to be on freeze for the third straight month.

The pause followed rates being hiked by a record Rs 10 per litre in a matter of 16 days beginning March 22. In May, the government cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and diesel by Rs 6 per litre to cool soaring inflation.

At that time, the government also stated that Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy on cooking gas will be limited to only 9 crore poor women and other beneficiaries who got free connections under the Ujjwala scheme and the remaining users, including households, will pay the market price.