Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 20: Former Union Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee president, Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz (MP) has urged the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to provide 12 gas cylinders to the people of Jammu and Kashmir per annum per family, keeping special circumstances in view.
A Congress spokesman said that Prof Soz had earlier discussed the matter with Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jaipal Reddy and got his assurance that he would consider this plea sympathetically.
Prof Soz explained that State deserves special consideration as it experiences long spell of cold weather during winter months and therefore, adequate provision of gas can bring some relief to them. The other reason relates to the fact that during the last decades or so, the forest cover in State has been increased due to the fact that even the borders and areas closer to forests, the people have started using gas for cooking purposes and this has visibly reduced dependence on the forests for fire wood.
The PCC president also made a plea that non-subsidized gas cylinders should be made available in the market freely and black market sales should be ruthlessly discouraged and defaulters punished.
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