The Centre has expanded the ambit of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) to include any family that wishes to get a cooking gas connection. PMUY is the LPG connection distribution scheme launched by the Centre.

Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “The Ujjwala Scheme was initially targeted towards the needy whose names figured under the Socio-Economic Caste Census-2011 data. It was later expanded to include those whose names were mentioned in the Below Poverty Line data and other measures of identifying the needy, now the Ujjwala scheme is being expanded to include all those who seek an LPG connection.”

The recipient will have to furnish a self-declaration stating that the family does not have an LPG connection, Pradhan said adding this is subject to fulfilling eligibility norms and furnishing required documents.

Connections disbursed

Pradhan had earlier in the day informed the Lok Sabha that public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have released more than 5.85 crore LPG connections under PMUY.

According to data shared by the Ministry of Petroleum, there have been 5,85,26,626 connections disbursed across 36 States/Union Territories. The maximum number of connections have been disbursed in Uttar Pradesh at 98,62,562, West Bengal is second with 67,95,443 connections and Madhya Pradesh comes third at 52,36,880 connections.

Till November 30, there have been 965,25,855 refills from the connections disbursed under the PMUY scheme. The highest number of refills have taken place in Uttar Pradesh at 190,24,270 refills, West Bengal is next with 109,97,084 refills and Rajasthan is third with 74,79,579 refills.

Published on December 17, 2018