The chief minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan has been urged by the state unit of the congress party to roll back the hike in cooking gas and transport cost proposed by his deputy chief minister and finance minister Ajit Pawar.

The government is proposing an increase of Rs. 22 on a cooking gas cylinder and introduction of a 12.5% entry fee on natural gas. Congress has said that the increase will increase the burden on the people in the city.

Pawar presented a surplus budget of Rs152 crore and projected a growth of 8.5 per cent for Maharashtra. The annual plan for the state has been restricted to Rs 45,000 crore. The state government is aiming to earn an additional revenue of Rs600 crore through taxes imposed on LPG, luxury vehicles, CNG, tobacco, beedi, plaster of Paris, air turbine fuel, sand, oil and cotton seeds.

Pawar said that the hike in LPG price is justified. He said, "We have tried to strike a balance to ensure people are not overburdened and at the same time, to generate revenue which will be utilised for the social sector."

MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre said that the hike would lead to a delegation to chief minister demanding a rollback of hike in cooking gas.