The Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana at Ballia UP.
The scheme aims to provide cooking gas connections to five crore below-poverty-line beneficiaries over the next three years.
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched for the three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in Dahod (Gujarat).
Fifteen women from BPL families from the three states were handed over LPG connections at the launch.
The scheme would impact the lives of women from BPL families in a major way by reducing the drudgery of cooking with polluting fuels and go a long way in reducing indoor pollution and other health related problems faced by them.
Over 5 crore BPL women would be provided LPG connections in the next three years.
The administrative cost of 1600 per connection, which includes a cylinder, pressure regulator, booklet, safety hose, etc. would be borne by the Government.
The government aims at providing relief to 5 crore women from the scourge of smoke and disease by the time the country celebrates the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.
The Government aims to provide 25 lakhs new LPG connections and 15 lakh PNG connections to increase the use of clean fuels in the State of Gujarat.
Govt had earlier implemented PAHAL, Direct Transfer of subsidy on LPG to the bank accounts of consumers.
Over 5 crore customers have benefited from the scheme, which has resulted in prevention of subsidy leakages to the unintended.
The voluntary surrendering of subsidy by over 1 crore customers under the GiveItUp campaign has helped the Government provide LPG to poor households.
Declaring the year 2016 as the ‘Year of Consumers’, Minister for Petroleum informed that the Ministry has ensured that the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) offered customer centric offerings like Sahaj – the online booking and release of new connections, the online booking and payment for LPG refills, ‘1906’- the 24×7 LPG leakage Emergency telephone helpline among others.