Narendra Modi's LPG scheme to begin with five districts in Uttar Pradesh
New Delhi   21-Apr-2016



Starting next month, nearly 25,000 women from below poverty line (BPL) households across five districts in eastern Uttar Pradesh will be able to replace their chulas—cooking stoves that use firewood or coal—with cooking gas cylinders.

The gas connections will be provided without any upfront security deposit to the oil marketing companies, said an oil ministry official, who did not want to be named. The five districts are Ballia, Goda, Dewri, Ghazipur and Mahu.

The welfare scheme will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ballia district under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), which was approved by the Union cabinet on 10 March and aims to provide liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections without security deposit to 50 million women from BPL households over the next three years.

The government has allocated Rs.8,000 crore for this purpose and households will get equated monthly instalments to cover the cost of stove and gas refills.

Modi launching the welfare scheme in Uttar Pradesh assumes significance as the state is going to polls next year. Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan will review the arrangements in Ballia on 23 April. These districts were chosen for the launch of the scheme as it is one of the regions where LPG consumption is very low, according to the oil ministry official quoted above.