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A file picture of people waiting outside an LPG outlet in Dimapur. In less than two years, almost 50 thousand LPG connections have been made in Nagaland under the PMUY scheme, according to latest data.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, July 1 (EMN): With more than two lakh customers in Nagaland, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MP&NG) has catered to around 49,914 Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) connections so far under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme since its launch on May 31, 2017. According to the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Union Minister of P&NG, Dharmendra Pradhan presented the data through a written reply in Lok Sabha.
The PMUY scheme aims at helping women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families to have access to clean cooking fuel—LPG in the country. The Centre earmarked INR 5 cr. deposit-free LPG connections BPL families, but was subsequently increased to INR 8 cr. with a budgetary allocation of INR 12800 cr.
In Nagaland, there are 56 LPG distributors catering to around 2,49,094 customers. Among 11 districts, the urban areas of Dimapur and Kohima were recorded to have maximum customers with LPG coverage of 122.66% and 116.65% respectively as of December 1, 2018.
The percentages for the other districts were: Longleng 21.72%, Mokokchung 68.53 %, Mon 20.82%, Peren 22.86%, Tuensang 23.28%, Wokha 30%, Zunheboto 36.16%, Kiphire 19.34%, and Phek with the lowest at 18.21%
Initially, the scheme envisaged providing LPG to the ‘socio economic cast census (SECC) 2011’ households. However, it has been extended to beneficiaries not identified on SECC list as well. The ministry had invited seven more types of households to apply for the scheme including schedule tribes/schedule caste, forest dwellers, river island and island dwellers, tea and ex-tea garden tribes, most backward castes, Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana Gramin beneficiaries.
The written reply also showed neighbouring state Assam as the highest beneficiary of the scheme with 28,79,858 LPG connections being released, followed by Tripura with a total connection of 2,40,848 released. Sikkim recorded lowest among the north-eastern states with a total connection of 7,893 released under the PMUY.
India has the total of 26,43,28,716 LPG connections across the country. The LPG connection released under PMUY is 725,94,114 with a coverage of 714 districts. The initial target of five crore connections was achieved well before the targeted period, that is, on March 31, 2019.
“Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have reported that nearly 86% of PMUY beneficiaries, who are at least one year old, have returned for the second refill. OMCs have reported that average per capita consumption of PMUY beneficiaries is around 4.87 cylinders,” according to the PIB statement.
