Dimapur, Jan. 3: Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has achieved 1.5 crore LPG connection target under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) during the current financial year within a span of less 8 months across 35 states and union territories.
The vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households in the country was taken forward through implementation of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). An adult woman member of BPL family identified through Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data was given a deposit free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs 1600 per connection by Government of India. The announcement of releasing 5 crore LPG connections to BPL families over a period of three years was made with allocation of Rs 8000 crore in the Union Budget on 29.2.2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PMUY on 01.05.2016 from Balia, Uttar Pradesh.
14 States/UTs having LPG coverage less than the national average, hilly states of J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and all North-East States were identified as priority states for implementing the scheme.
The top five States with maximum connections are UP (46 lakh), West Bengal (19 lakh), Bihar (19 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (17 lakh) and Rajasthan (14 lakh). These States constitutes nearly 75% of the total connections released. The households belonging to SC/ST constitute large chunk of beneficiaries with 35% of the connections being released to them.
It may be mentioned here that with the implementation of PMUY, the national LPG coverage has increased from 61 % (as on 1.1.2016) to 70% (as on 01.12.2016).
