The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched for the three states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in Dahod. Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt Vasundhara Raje were present at the launch. Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan presided over the event. National President of BJP, Shri Amit Shah also attended the event.
Fifteen women from BPL families from the three states were handed over LPG connections at the launch. The scheme would impact the lives of women from BPL families in a major way by reducing the drudgery of cooking with polluting fuels and go a long way in reducing indoor pollution and other health related problems faced by them.
Shri Pradhan said that over 5 crore BPL women would be provided LPG connections in the next three years. The administrative cost of Rs. 1600 per connection, which includes a cylinder, pressure regulator, booklet, safety hose, etc. would be borne by the Government. The government aims at providing relief to 5 crore women from the scourge of smoke and disease by the time the country celebrates the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. He also said that the Government aims to provide 25 lakhs new LPG connections and 15 lakh PNG connections to increase the use of clean fuels in the State of Gujarat.
The three Chief Ministers while addressing the gathering remarked on the major change that PMUY would bring to the lifestyles of women from the BPL families. They praised the visionary leadership of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in recognising and addressing the problems faced by women. Shri Amit Shah complimented the efforts of Shri Pradhan for effectively steering PMUY through the efforts of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Shri Pradhan had earlier implemented PAHAL, Direct Transfer of subsidy on LPG to the bank accounts of consumers. Over 15.5 crore customers have benefited from the scheme, which has resulted in prevention of subsidy leakages to the unintended. The voluntary surrendering of subsidy by over 1 crore customers under the GiveItUp campaign has helped the Government provide LPG to poor households.
Declaring the year 2016 as the ‘Year of Consumers’, Shri Pradhan said that the Ministry has ensured that the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) offered customer centric offerings like Sahaj – the online booking and release of new connections, the online booking and payment for LPG refills, ‘1906’- the 24×7 LPG leakage Emergency telephone helpline among others.