BJP chief Amit Shah and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will formally launch the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in the tribal-dominated Dahod district in central Gujarat on May 15.

This will be the second launch event of PMUY as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the scheme at Ballia in Uttar Pradesh on May 1.

The PMUY scheme aims to provide free LPG connections to about five crore families living below poverty line across the country.

“Besides Amit Shah and Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (independent charge) Dharmendra Pradhan, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and her Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh counterparts Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, respectively will also be present. The event will take place in Dahod town,” Gujarat Civil Supplies and Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama told PTI over phone.

According to him, Dahod district has been chosen for the launch ceremony as it has the lowest percentage of households with cooking gas connections.

The Rs 8,000-crore PMUY scheme will partly be funded using the money saved from 1.13 crore cooking gas users voluntarily giving up their subsidies through PM’s ‘Give It Up’ initiative. The scheme provides a financial support of Rs 1,600 for each LPG connection to the BPL households.

“4.40 lakh families in Gujarat have relinquished their LPG subsidy by responding to the appeal made by PM. The subsidies that were given up, will reach the poor people through the PMUY scheme,” Chudasama said.

The cooking gas connection will not only help reduce cost for each family, but will also help better the health of women. The subsidy amount will be transferred in the Jan Dhan account of woman head of a family, he said.

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