Cong slams govt for gas price hike, water woes

The Opposition Congress has come down heavily on the state government for increasing gas prices for industries and stopping water supply to farms in north Gujarat.

State-owned Gujarat Gas hiked gas prices for industrial consumers by about 10% from December 23. For the ceramic units in Morbi, the price was revised from Rs24.87 per standard cubic metre (scm) to Rs27.37 per scm. For industries in other regions, price was hiked from Rs 26.59 per scm to Rs29.17 per scm.

The ceramic industry of Morbi, which was getting gas at a cheaper rate than other industries, and continues to be charged less, has opposed the hike saying it would put additional burden of Rs80 lakh on them.

State Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said that the price hike would hurt thousands of ceramic units.

He also said that more than 10,000 jeera farmers of Banaskantha were staring at huge losses due to sudden stoppage of Narmada water supply under the pretext of canal repairing. Doshi questioned if the steps were taken in view of reverses suffered by BJP in Morbi as well as Banaskantha.

HIKE HURDLES

• State-owned Gujarat Gas hiked gas prices for industrial consumers by about 10% from December 23. 
   
• For the ceramic units in Morbi, the price was revised from Rs24.87 per standard cubic metre (scm) to Rs27.37 per scm.