AGARTALA, Aug 28 (TIWN): Brinda Karat on Tuesday has hit the Modi Govt for the increasing price hike of fuel and other commodities, except grains which could help the farmers.

"It's a very good initiative by Govt is giving free gas connections to the households. Indeed we also want our mothers, sisters should not suffer from cooking smokes. Prime Minister Modi has boasted his Govt a lot saying 5 crores of LPG connections to be given across India. I think Tripura also got many connection. But does PM Modi care for the LPG prices ? Somewhere it's 800, somewhere it's 900 and in Tripura is Rs 980", Karat said. 

Brinda Karat claimed, people got Ujjwala Yojana, but they don't cook in that and poor families sell them as they have no capacity to buy cylinders. Thus firewood, coal, dungs are their fates and cooking smokes are still a reality. 

"In Tripura LPG gas costs Rs. 980. Is it possible for the poor to buy ? Who will pay for it ?", she added. 

Noteworthy, in paper, the central government scheme which provides free liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, connections to below the poverty line families, seems to be doing well.  But one year after it was launched in 2016, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana seems to have run into rough weather.

However, gas agency dealers in several parts of the country, especially those in rural areas, have reported that an extremely low number of Ujjwala beneficiaries are returning for refills of their cylinders. Thus, the number of LPG connections may be rising rapidly, but LPG usage is not with low numbers of refills.