ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: The liquefied petroleum gas companies on Monday increased the price of gas by Rs3 per kg across the country despite a recent downward revision made in the LPG base price by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

This will be the second increase in the LPG price in the last four days, said Secretary, LPG Distributors Association of Pakistan, Muzammal Abbasi, in a statement issued here on Monday.

With this increase, the 11 kg LPG cylinder price rose to Rs720 from Rs684 in Peshawar, Gilgit, Murree, and Rawalpindi.

This price will further go up in northern areas as cost of transportation will increase further the end price.

In these cities, the per kg LPG price increased to Rs61 from Rs58.

According to the association, the 11 kg cylinder price increased to Rs625 from Rs590 in Lahore. The per kg price increased to Rs53 from Rs50.

The price of LPG went up in the wake of government move to link the base price of local stock with international market since Jan 3, 2007.

The consumer price of each cylinder was in the range of Rs484 to 680 at the end of August 2007. In December 2006, the average price of each cylinder was Rs510.

The association criticised the government policy, which resulted in an unprecedented increase in the LPG price.

The monthly gas bills in urban areas stood at Rs400 while in rural areas, the monthly bill of each consumer stood in the range of Rs1,800 to Rs2,000 per month.

The association demanded of the government to withdraw the levy of general sales tax (GST) on import of LPG.

The government should also withdraw the decision of fixing base price for LPG.

A total of 1,600 tons of LPG is produced daily in Pakistan with the total local production of 48,000 tons per month.

Only 4,000-5,000 tons is being imported annually to meet the demand and supply gap.