As elections near, govt slashes cost of cooking gas by Rs 200

News Network

August 29, 2023

New Delhi, Aug 29: Amidst growing public anger over price rise, ahead of imminent elections in a five states and next year’s general elections, the central government has slashed the price of a 14 kg LPG cylinder by Rs 200 under the Ujjwala Scheme.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur in a Cabinet briefing announced the price cut of LPG cylinders under Ujjwala Scheme by Rs 200 per cylinder.

“All domestic consumers of LPG cylinders to get Rs 200 subsidy per cylinder. Further, users under PM Ujwala scheme will get this subsidy on top of existing subsidy," Thakur said.

Addressing the cabinet briefing, Thakur said that on the occasion of Rakhi and Onam, 75 lakh women will get free gas connection under Ujjwala scheme.

Further, Cabinet approved 7.5 million new gas connections under Ujjwala Scheme.

Total expense to the government for the reduction on gas prices will be approximately Rs 7500 crore, sources said.

The oil companies increased the price of domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 50 in July. Earlier, the prices were increased twice in May.

The move will be taken ahead of Assembly polls in five states — Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram — scheduled for later this year.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 1 2016 to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.

Earlier this month, oil marketing companies executed a price revision for commercial LPG while keeping domestic cooking gas rates unchanged on August 1. This adjustment notably included a significant decrease of Rs 99.75 in the price of 19 kg commercial LPG gas cylinders, implemented from the beginning of August. As a result, the retail selling price of a 19 kg commercial LPG cylinder in Delhi now stands at Rs 1,680.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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