PMUY raises tiol LPG coverage

From Our Correspondent

Itagar, Dec 31: The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yoja (PMUY) target of 1.5 crore for current fiscal has been achieved within a span of less than 8 months, Kimin-based LPG bottling plant mager Som P Khrimey said quoting Indian Oil Messaging Gateway.

The PMUY, envisioned by Prime Minister rendra  Modi to provide  clean cooking fuel to poor households is being implemented across 35 states and UTs, has increased tiol LPG coverage  from 61% (as on January 1, 2016) to 70% (as on Dec 1, 2016) with implementation of the PMUY. An adult woman member of BPL family identified through socio-economic caste census (SECC) data is given a deposit free LPG connection with fincial assistance of Rs. 1600 per connection by the Centre.

The announcement to release 5 crore LPG connections to BPL families during three years was made with Rs 8,000 crore allocations in Union Budget on February 29 last.

The Prime Minister had launched PMUY at Balia in Uttar Pradesh on May 1 last while, 14 states and UTs having less than tiol average LPG coverage, hilly states of J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and all NE India states were identified as priority states for implementing the PMUY. The top five states with maximum connections are UP (46 lakh), West Bengal and Bihar (19 lakh each), Madhya Pradesh (17 lakh) and Rajasthan (14 lakh) constitute nearly 75% of total connections released. The households belonging to SC/ST constitute large chunk of beneficiaries with 35% of connections being released to them, Khrimey added.