KTR to Centre: Why no special package offered to women

Hyderabad: Reacting sharply to the Rs 22,000-crore one-time grant approved by the Union Cabinet to three oil marketing companies (OMC), TRS working president and State Industries & IT Minister KT Rama Rao has questioned why special package was not offered to women who were burdened with financial distress." They are in distress as subsidies on gas cylinders are scrapped; its prices are increased", he said.

KTR demanded the Centre to offer a similar package or subsidy to gas users who are bearing heavy financial burden.

The minister said the price of a gas cylinder was Rs 400 before Narendra Modi became Prime Minister(PM). The current prices of a cylinder shot up to Rs 1,100. He quipped Modi has positioned himself as a Vishwa Guru in terms of cylinder prices as they are the highest in the world.

Pointing out that Modi questioned the then PM when the price of a gas cylinder was Rs 400, KTR asked what answers does he have now for people. He said the Centre offered a subsidy of Rs 827 on each cylinder in 2014, which was brought down to Rs 0 by the Modi government.

The TRS working president said the BJP government "is insensitive towards the middle class whose savings plummeted in the past two years because of Covid and lockdown.

"The government has shifted the burden of Rs 42,000-crore subsidies of last year on 39 crore gas connection holders" . KTR asked people to choose if they want Modi or subsidies.

He questioned why aren't problems faced by women addressed when oil companies' issues are being resolved. Rao called upon women-who constitute half of the nation's population to take a firm decision not to bear anymore atrocities inflicted by BJP. The TRS leader observed that the debacle of BJP should start from kitchens of poor and middle class women.