City-based MP Vandana Chavan, among several other prominent personalities, has endorsed a letter demanding provisions in the Union Budget 2023-24 to make Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) affordable to poor households across India.
The letter was sent to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Wednesday by ‘Warrior Moms’, a nationwide mothers’ network for clean air, and was endorsed by over 20 noted personalities, including MPs and social activists.
“The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY) introduced in 2016 has given over 8 crore households access to subsidised LPG connections. However, the insufficiency of the subsidy combined with the difficulty of getting a timely refill hinders millions of households from switching to LPG, unable to afford cylinders now priced at over Rs 1,000 on an average,” reads the letter.
It also raised concerns over underprivileged households, due to the rising cost of LPG cylinders, being forced to depend on unclean fuels like firewood and dung cakes, resulting in serious health implications (still-births, asthma, bronchitis, COPD, growth stagnation, decrease in life expectancy, high infant mortality rates).
“It is imperative to provide all our underprivileged constituents with heavily subsidised cooking cylinders and refills (targeted subsidies, based on household income),” states the letter.
Those who endorsed the letter include MPs such as Shashi Tharoor, Farooq Abdullah, Varun Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi, senior advocate Justice Anjana Prakash, social activist Aruna Roy, among others.
“It is disturbing to see the obstacles that women in urban-poor and rural households face due to the exorbitantly priced LPG refills across India. Continued usage of such fuels also has disastrous consequences on their health and well-being. We urge the Government of India to take this into account and raise the subsidy amount well beyond the current extension of Rs. 200, along with making the distribution of LPG smoother across the country,” said Warrior Moms in a statement issued Wednesday.
Anuja Bali, one of the coordinators at Warrior Moms from Pune, said last year, their collective engaged in surveys, studies, and bringing out awareness videos on the issue of air pollution and submitted 5,000 postcards to the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri. The postcards urged the government to address the issue of household air pollution by ensuring access and affordability to LPG for all poor households.
Household air pollution contributes to 30 to 50 per cent of the ambient air quality in India. Over 40 per cent households still do not have access to clean cooking fuel, despite close to universal coverage of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
About Warrior Moms
‘Warrior Moms’ is a collective of mothers from all over India fighting for children’s rights to breathe clean air by creating awareness of sources of air pollution and climate change, educating and empowering citizens to take action, and engaging with decision-makers to enforce regulations. Its vision is to create a society where clean air is accessible to all, especially children.
