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Govt move to ban kerosene opposed

By City Correspondent

GUWAHATI, Sept 18 - The All Assam Kerosene Dealers� Federation (AAKDF) today appealed to the Government of Assam to stay the pilot project on making the State kerosene-free and urged it to thoroughly review the situation first.

The Federation made the appeal after the Deputy Secretary of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs had on September 14 approved the declaration of the area under the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) as kerosene-free as part of the government�s attempt to provide LPG connection to every BPL household of Assam under the Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana.

The Federation stated that Assam is still lagging behind many other states of India, and hence more time should be allowed for its BPL consumers to convert to LPG use.

�Guwahati witnesses a large number of floating population, like seasonal labours and rickshaw-pullers, from different districts, who visit the city to earn their livelihood, many of whom don�t have permanent residences, and they now have to deal with a big problem of obtaining an LPG connection at such a short notice. Guwahati is not yet ready and thus, this ban would only deal a severe blow to the people from the low-income group,� the Federation stated.

It also said that due to the ban, several petty food stall owners of Guwahati will face an acute dearth of this cheap fuel substitute. It will now be difficult for roadside vendors to carry on with their businesses and this will lead to closure of many small self-employment avenues. On the other hand, many agencies are involved in distribution of kerosene to the end-users, including oil depots, shops, hawkers, retailers, etc. Once the kerosene ban is implemented, this entire chain of business will be severely affected, the Federation said.

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