Ballia(Uttar Pradesh): May 1, 2016 : Modi’s announcement of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, on May Day is another step towards the plan to provide free LPG connections to 5 crore women beneficiaries from BPL families over the next 3 years.
The scheme which will cost state exchequer around Rs 8,000 crore, part of which will come from the money saved from those gas users who voluntarily giving up their subsidies.
India currently has 16.64 crore active LPG consumers with a consumption of 21 million metric tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas. During 2016-17, around 1.5 crore connections will be provided. The scheme provides a financial support of Rs 1,600 for each LPG connection to BPL households.
While the money that was spend on getting the connection has been completely waived of, getting the stove and other accessories have also been made easy. The amount has been reduced substantially with the help of the dealers.
The beneficiary will not have to pay for it on spot rather the amount will be recovered from his subsidy; which instead of being deposited in his account will go to the account of the dealer from whom the beneficiary has bought the stove.
This means that the beneficiary will have to pay virtually nothing to switch over to LPG gas from their traditional chulhas at first instance.
Launching the scheme in Ballia on Sunday, Modi said, “This land of Ballia is a revolutionary land. This land gave us Mangal Pandey. People from here give their lives to the nation”
“The scheme will benefit poor families and particularly poor women”.
He added that in the last 60 years on 13 crore families got LPG connection whereas in last one year NDA government gave LPG connection to 3 crore households. Ballia was chosen for the launch because it has the lowest LPG gas connection, he said.
@Agency report.
