Panaji, Apr 3 (IANS): Goa Forward Party (GFP) has alleged that the BJP government garnered votes by promising to give three free cooking cylinders, however now they are feeling cheated.

Addressing a press conference, GFP Vice-President Ashma said that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should clarify whether the government will give three cylinders free, which were promised.

"During assembly election, BJP promised to give three cylinders free to garner votes and in return cheated women of the state. Now Chief Minister should clarify whether this scheme will be implemented or not," Ashma said.

"Women are soft targets and the BJP wanted to use this promise to target women and take their votes,"she said.

Earlier, GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai had said that due to the steep rise in the price of cooking gas and the BJP government's failure to provide free LPG cylinders, people in the rural areas of the state are forced to rely on firewood for cooking.

Sardesai slammed the BJP government during zero hour of the ongoing Assembly session.

"People are burdened due to the steep hike in the price of cooking gas. Many people in rural areas are forced to rely on firewood to meet their cooking requirements," Sardesai said.

"Mothers and sisters of Goa voted for you (BJP) so that you could form the government. During the budget (in the year 2022), the Chief Minister (Pramod Sawant) had said that under the 'Goa Gramin Urja Yojana', the state government has decided to give three cylinders for free per year for which a provision of Rs 40 crore has been made. But now this scheme has been dropped," Sardesai said.

"Today the situation is such that people are storing bunches of firewood at their homes," he added.

Sardesai also said that the promise of providing free cylinders has gone up in smoke.

"The fanfare with which this scheme was announced remains only on party leaflets now. The Chief Minister has cheated our mothers and sisters with his false promise," Sardesai said.