NEW DELHI (TIP): The Union Cabinet has approved raising the quota of subsidised LPG (cooking gas) to 12 cylinders per household in a year from current nine, Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily announced at a press conference on January 30.

The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs decided to allow households to get one subsidised LPG cylinder a month from February. The government currently spends Rs 46,000 crore on LPG subsidy every year. This increase in subsidised LPG quota will cost the exchequer Rs 5,000 crore more in subsidy.

The decision comes soon after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi demanded an increase in the quota of subsidized cooking gas cylinders to 12 from 9 at the party’s conclave in New Delhi. “We cannot do with only nine cylinders, we need 12 cylinders per family,” he had said, addressing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Cabinet also put on hold the Aadhaar-linked transfer of LPG subsidy to bank accounts, Moily said.