New Delhi [India], June 9 (ANI): Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Tuesday hit out at the Centre for reducing the annual subsidised LPG cylinder quota, while also highlighting the concern over recurring national-level examination leaks.

Speaking to ANI, KC Venugopal alleged that the country will face a bigger economic crisis due to the 'bad foreign policy' of this government.

He said, 'Certainly, the country is going to face a bigger economic crisis. Due to the bad foreign policy and bad economic policy of this government, the people of this country are going to suffer. The government of India is not doing anything to address this concern. They are in a different world.'

Venugopal further slammed the Centre following the leakage of NEET and CBSE exams and claimed that all students of the country are in 'complete trouble.'

'Every day, people's lives become miserable. No action from the government. On one side, this and on the other side, leakage of NEET and CBSE exams. All students are in complete trouble. Common people are in trouble. This government is going to make people's lives miserable. We are going to fight against that,' KC Venugopal added.

Meanwhile, the government has stressed that LPG consumers continue to get a large indirect subsidy even after the Rs 29 per cylinder price increase, with the subsidy amounting to about Rs 700 for non-Ujjwala users and Rs 1,000 for Ujjwala beneficiaries.

Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Praveen Mal Khanooja, said on Monday that the effective cost of a 14.2 kg cylinder based on Saudi CP is over Rs 1,600, but consumers pay Rs 942.

'Whether I'm a Ujjwala customer or a non-Ujjwala customer, I'm getting a cylinder which should have cost Rs 1,600, at Rs 942, even if I'm a non-Ujjwala customer. Now in that case, that is also an indirect subsidy to the customer. Now, over and above that, Ujjwala customers get Rs 300 more. So overall, if you see, they are getting Rs 1,000. The non-Ujjwala are also getting Rs 700 a cylinder,' Khanooja said during the inter-ministerial press briefing.

He added that OMC under-recovery is currently about Rs 700 per 14.2 kg cylinder, similar to levels seen earlier, when the government compensated OMCs with Rs 52,000 crore across FY23 and FY24.

Domestic LPG production has been 'maximised' and hit 53 TMT per day on World LPG Day, about 60 per cent higher than pre-crisis levels. Backlogs at distributorships are now under four days, online sender bookings are 99 per cent, and delivery authentication is 96 per cent. In the last four days, sender bookings averaged 42 lakh per day while deliveries were 44 lakh per day. Commercial LPG sales have also recovered to 6 TMT per month, or 70-75 per cent of pre-crisis consumption.

For Ujjwala customers, the subsidy is capped at Rs 300 per cylinder for the first four cylinders annually, reflecting average consumption of 4-5 cylinders per year. The Rs 29 hike, Khanooja said, works out to Rs 1 per day and '20 paisa per day per household member' for a family using 12 cylinders a year, calling it a 'very minor hike' compared to the Rs 700 under-recovery.

On petrol and diesel, Khanooja said OMCs face under-recoveries of Rs 30/litre on diesel and Rs 6/litre on petrol, translating to daily losses of Rs 600-700 crore for the industry. (ANI)