Strong demand at Cong meet to raise cap on LPG cylinders

The meeting of Union Ministers and party leaders was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here during which several issues concerning the government and the party were discussed.

Sources said there was near unanimity in the meeting that the government increase the cap of subsidised cooking gas cylinders from six to 12 a year.

Several leaders raised the issue of LPG cylinders at the meeting, prompting Moily to assure that he would hold talks with Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram in this regard.

"As the demand was raised, Moily said he would consider the demand and hold discussions in this regard with the Prime Minister and Finance Minister," the sources said.

The Centre had in September announced that a domestic consumer would get up to six subsidised LPG cylinders a year and that they would have to pay the market price for every additional cylinder. PTI

In his speech, the Prime Minister admitted there were financial constraints but assured it would not affect the funding of social sector.

The sources said Singh also assured that the lack of funds would be met by investments, including FDI, in various sectors.