Shimla, June 9: Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan in the presence of CM Virbhadra Singh and Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Thursday launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, to disburse free LPG connections to the below poverty line (BPL) families.
Pradhan said to broaden the reach of LPGs, 50 new distribution centres and two more bottling plants would be opened in the state soon. This would also generate employment avenues to the youth.
He said 2.25 crore LPG connections had been disbursed in the first year of the launch of this scheme nationally and states like Odisha, UP and Bihar, where the number of LPG users was low, were given priority. The scheme aims to provide 5 crore LPG connections in the name of the women head of the family to BPL households across the country. He said in Himachal, out of 16 lakh houses, 14 lakh houses had LPG connectivity unlike in states like Bihar, Odisha and UP, where it was much less than national average.
Today the total number of active LPG consumers in the country had crossed 20 crore and there had been a quantum jump from 14 crore in 2014. He said Rs 8,000 crore had been set aside by the government for the implementation of this scheme over the next three years. “This will also help in providing better health to women as 5 lakh woman die every year by inhaling noxious fumes from the use of wood and other fuels for cooking,” he added.
He said in coming times, the entire state would be free of fossil fuel and carbon emissions and the Centre had taken the responsibility of making Himachal smoke-free.
JP Nadda said the Union Government was dedicated to ameliorate the lot of the poorest of the poor and several schemes were launched for the welfare of the poor and the needy. He said, “In the coming times no one in Himachal will be without gas connections.”
Source Tribune India
