Hyderabad: Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi’s “Give It Up” campaign – to forego the LPG subsidy – is getting a lukewarm response from elected representatives in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Among the leaders who are living in the joint capital of Hyderabad, only a handful has opted out of the subsidy.
However, Chief Minis-ters N. Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh and K. Chandra-sekhar Rao of Telangana, civil supplies ministers of both the states — Paritala Sunitha and Etala Rajender — Niza-mabad MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha, MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi,
Telangana BJP legislators G. Kishan Reddy, Dr K. Laxman and a few others are exceptions.
When asked, TRS MLC Gangadhar Goud said that their salary was not adequate.
He said that they were actually spending from their own pockets to meet expenses.
“So where does the question of foregoing gas subsidy arise?” he questioned.
A legislator in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh gets '1.2 lakh per month – '12,000 salary, '83,000 constituency allowance which includes vehicle and other expenses as well as house rent allowance of '25,000.
Meanwhile, Forum for Good Governance secretary Padmanabha Reddy, welcomed the Centre’s move to withdraw gas subsidy from tax payers who are earning '10 lakh or more annually.
Those who have been reluctant all this while to forego the gas subsidy, will now have no other option but to follow suit, he said
The political class, who have been reluctant all this while, will have no options but to follow suit, he said
Strangely many from middle income groups, especially school teachers, have voluntarily responded to Mr Modi’s call.
Even small and medium traders doing good business have volunteered to do their bit for the cause.
Celebrities from other fields including sports persons like retired cricketer V.V.S. Laxman, badminton stars Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta, P.V. Sindhu, P. Kashyap, coach Gopichand and animal welfare activist Amala have responded positively to the prime minister’s call and have given up their subsidies.
Ranga Reddy tops in 2 states which is ready to give up sop
The drive to give up LPG subsidy is getting a mixed response from consumers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
While the figures are encouraging in urban areas in most districts, the situation is opposite in the backward districts.
Ranga Reddy is on top with 32,265 consumers opting out from the subsidy voluntarily, closely followed by Hyderabad (30,842) while Warangal (23,735) is at third position.
Meanwhile, Adilabad, considered to be one of the most backward districts in the state, is at the bottom.
Here only 5,952 consumers have forgone gas subsidy.
The situation in Khammam is no better. It is second from the bottom with only 7401 consumers opting out.
As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, the districts of Krishna (22,085) and Chittoor (18,836) occupy the top two positions. Guntur is at third place with 15,966 consumers responding to the Prime Minister’s call to give up LPG subsidy.
The North Coastal districts, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam, are at the bottom of the table. In Srikakulam, only 3163 consumers have registered for the drive while in Vizianagaram, 5437 people gave up the subsidy.These are the cumulative figures until last week of December.
As on date, the price of a domestic gas cylinder in Hyderabad region is '733.50, which includes subsidy of '273.00.
After the total amount is paid at the time of delivery, the subsidy amount is credited to the bank account of the consumer.
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