DYFI activists protests LPG price hike in Chennai

The steep price hike announced by petroleum companies for non-subsidised cooking gas sparked off protests here on Saturday.

Members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) gathered outside the office of Indian Oil Corporation Limited and shouted anti-government slogans for increasing the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

Indian Oil Corporation Limited is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation.

State-owned petroleum companies had on January 1 hiked the price of non-subsidised cooking gas cylinders by Rs.220 per piece.

A member of the DYFI, Lenin, threatened to intensify their protest if the government failed to listen to their demands.

"Our protest is against the central (federal) government as they have raised the gas price, so, we have demanded that they should rollback the gas price. If they didn't do, again we will protest," he said.

The decision comes at a time when oil companies have made it clear that domestic cooking gas consumers, who have not linked their Unique Identification Card Number to LPG connection number and bank account within the given grace period, would not be eligible for subsidised cylinders.

India, the world's fourth-biggest oil consumer, is considering a Rs.3 to Rs.5 hike in the price of diesel, which accounts for more than 40 percent of fuel use, government officials said last week, as the country looks to cut import costs by nearly USD 20 billion to trim a record current account deficit.

Fuel price rises generally provoke stiff resistance from opposition parties, and any increase now is expected to draw a bigger protest as India approaches a general election due by May 2014.