NEW DELHI, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 4 percent users of cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), in India have given up subsidy provided by the government at the request of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past three years, said official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Saturday.

In March 2015, Modi appealed to the well-to-do sections of Indian society to voluntarily give up the LPG subsidy, saying this would enable the government to benefit more of the poor.

As per rough estimates, nearly 80 percent of households in India use LPG as cooking gas, while the rest, mostly in rural and far flung areas, still depend on firewood for cooking purposes.

A website run by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas says domestic cooking gas is "heavily subsidized" by the government and every gas cylinder carries substantial subsidy. This translates to a huge annual subsidy burden on the government, draining precious resources which otherwise could have been used in developmental activities.

Accordingly, the government has launched a campaign aimed at motivating LPG users who can afford the market price for LPG to voluntarily forgo subsidy.