LPG connection for poor families

By Our Reporter

SHILLONG, JUNE 19: Union Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain today launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) for providing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connection to poor families in Meghalaya, even as he urged financially sound consumers to give up availing LPG subsidy.Gohain, who launched the PMUY, a Central scheme aims at safeguarding the health of women and children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel at the State Convention Centre here.

In his address, Gohain lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching PMUY on May 1, last year, so that five crore LPG connections would be provided to BPL families in the country with a support of Rs.1600 per connection in the next three years.

Gohain also joined the Prime Minister in appealing to consumers with sound financial background to give up LPG subsidy for the interest of poor people.

Stating that PMUY is part of the Prime Minister’s dream of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas’ the Union Minister hoped that the launch of PMUY would help women and children access to clean fuel for cooking and help protect the environment.

Meghalaya Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Roshan Warjri also thanked the Prime Minister for launching PMUY which according to her, the scheme would directly address the needs of poor women who manage kitchen and household, especially in rural areas.

“PMUY is a significant step forward towards women empowerment,” Warjri said, adding that the scheme would also make people conscious about the need to have a clean fuel not only for cooking, but also for taking care of their health and the environment.

Reminding the gathering that many years back, most people were not ready to use LPG for cooking, fearing that it might burst out, the Minister however urged Oil marketing companies and LPG distributors in the state to focus on raising consumers’ awareness regarding the utility of LPG as cooking fuel.

On the occasion, Parliamentary Secretary, Kennedy C. Khyriem, Additional Chief Secretary, P.W. Ingty, besides Indian oil officials were also present.

As a mark of symbolic launch of PMUY in the state, 22 beneficiaries from below poverty line

(BPL) families were handed over with LPG connections by the Union Minister and other dignitaries.

In his welcome address, Indian Oil executive director, Dipankar Ray, admitted that it would be a challenge in providing LPG connection to households in Meghalaya, since the number of households without LPG is more than those having LPG connection.

According to the Indian Oil official, Meghalaya as on June 1 this year, has 6.32 lakhs households with LPG coverage, which accounted for about 23 per cent coverage of households, while in the entire Northeast, the coverage was around 49 per cent.

At present, 46 distributors are catering to 1.45 lakh consumers in Meghalaya, the Indian Oil has proposed to introduce six new LPG distributors more in order to meet the surge in LPG demand in the state.

During the function, Oil marketing companies informed that they would try their best to achieve 100 per cent penetration by organising melas and camps at various locations for providing connection to BPL families.