Describing the hike as an extraordinary step, Dikshit said: ``A Rs 16 per cylinder hike is absolutely unprecedented. The Central Government should reconsider the step and roll-back the price to a level which can be absorbed by the middle and lower income groups. At the moment it is beyond the people's absorption level.''

The Chief Minister said she feared that the hike in prices of dry ration wheat, rice and sugar, apart from milk and LPG, would have a spiralling effect, leading to an all-round price rise.

``This will do away with the price relief that we gave people on edible oil, vegetables and pulses after our government took over. The present price hike will not only lead to inflation in Delhi but all over the country,'' she said.

The CM said she has already written to the Prime Minister requesting him to roll back the price. The rise in the prices of rice, wheat -- for which prices have been rolled back only for those below the poverty line -- and sugar, sold through the public distribution system, amount to Rs 15 crore in Delhi alone, she said.

Dikshit also indicated that the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee will take to the roads the moment the All India Congress Committee decides on a country-wide agitation on the price rise.