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Petroleum prices, like the products themselves, are highly inflammable. Any hike is invariably followed by vociferous protests and hunger strikes with demands for a rollback. The recent increase in the price of cooking gas has been no exception, the fallout in Andhra Pradesh being more damaging than expected.

Much of the worry stems from the threat to Deepam, an ambitious programme introduced by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu 14 months ago. A scheme for subsidised gas connections, Deepam had caught the fancy of its target group—women who are members of DWCRA self-help groups—in a big way. But with the prices going up, many of these small-time entrepreneurs have been badly hit. Cylinders have been put aside and they have had to go back to using kerosene or firewood. Worse, some are forced to buy kerosene in the open market at higher prices as they can no longer get it on PDS cards.
 
The cost of a gas cylinder has gone up twice—from Rs 180 to Rs 217 and now Rs 260—since Deepam's launch. "Our unique scheme will run into trouble because a refill is not affordable even by the middle class, let alone the poor who are part of the self-help groups," complains state Civil Supplies Minister N. Janardhan Reddy.

Enraged women's groups interrupted a meeting held by Naidu at Sangareddy recently to demand 'corrective' action. Pushed to a corner, the chief minister assured them that he would get the Centre to exempt them from the price hike. Leaving no room for doubt, he immediately shot off a request to this effect to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

But putting the ball in the Centre's court hasn't helped. The women's groups argue that if Naidu cannot persuade the Union government to roll back the increase, he should sanction additional grants from the coffers of the cash-strapped state, so they can buy the refills.

Dubbing Deepam a sham, these groups point out that in spite of the tall promises, only 8,28,939 gas connections have been cleared so far, the largest number being in Naidu's native district, Chittoor. Districts like Telangana and Rayalseema are way below the targets. Another objective of the scheme—to encourage jobless youth to open distribution outlets with government grants—was also abandoned after officials deemed it unviable.

Naidu, clearly, is in a bind. With the Centre unlikely to concede his request to exempt those under Deepam from the hike, he has only two alternatives: to provide grants to the women to buy refills or put the scheme on a backburner. The first option would mean a further drain on the state exchequer, the second a promise betrayed. Either way, Naidu stands to lose.

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