On International Women’s Day, female leaders and workers of the Trinamool Congress protested the rise in cooking gas prices by donning black sarees. They marched from Subodh Mallick Square to Mamata Banerjee’s demonstration site at Esplanade, led by State Ministers Shashi Panja and Chandrima Bhattacharya. The protest included symbolic gestures like wearing black sarees and Mamata Banerjee holding cylinders.
The Trinamool Congress traditionally organizes events on International Women’s Day, with this year’s focus being the surge in LPG cylinder prices due to Middle East tensions. Mamata Banerjee, expressing her discontent over the price hike, urged people to join the protest with kitchen utensils. The recent increase in cooking gas prices in India is attributed to the US-Iran conflict in the Middle East.
Following the surge, the government instructed Indian refiners to boost LPG production for domestic consumers. The price of a 14.2 kg domestic cooking gas cylinder has risen by Rs 60, now costing Rs 939 instead of Rs 879. Commercial gas prices have also escalated, with a per-cylinder increase from Rs 114 to Rs 1990. The public sector oil marketing companies have been directed to prioritize domestic LPG distribution.
