IndianOil declares 60 villages as 'SMOKELESS VILLAGE' in Karnataka
New Delhi 17-Dec-2015
Mr.P.R.Srinivas, Vychakoorahalli Pachayat Development Officer, (PDO), Mr. K.Jagadish,
Chikadanavahalli PDO, Mr.Narayanaswamy, Ankathathahalli PDO seen handing
over the symbolic certificate to Mr. S. Varadachari, General Manager, In Charge,
Karnataka, IndianOil, in the presence of Mr. Indrajit Bose, Executive Director,
(Corporate Communications and Branding), Head Office, Mumbai, Mr. Abhijit
Dey, DGM(LPG), Karnataka, Ms. Moti Sai Vasudevan, Sr.Manage
r(LPG), IndianOil Karnataka and others.
In an effort to improve LPG penetration in the country and in order to help improve the lives of rural masses, IndianOil has undertaken the task of achieving 100% LPG penetration in the country with a missionary zeal. As per the direction received from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, IndianOil LPG officers were motivated to adopt a village each to convert it to 100% LPG penetration.
IndianOil, Karnataka office took up this task zealously, basis which as on 15.12.2015, 60 villages have been declared as ‘SMOKELESS VILLAGE’.
The Panchayat Development Officers, who declared their villages as “SMOKELSS VILLAGE” (100% LPG penetration villages) handed over a symbolic certificate to Mr. S. Varadachari, General Manager, In Charge, Karnataka, IndianOil declaring 60 villages in Karnataka as having 100% LPG penetration, in the presence of Mr. Indrajit Bose, Executive Director, (Corporate Communications and Branding), Head Office, Mumbai, Mr. Abhijit Dey, DGM(LPG), Karnataka and several senior IndianOil officials at Bangalore today.
Speaking on the occasion Mr.Indrajit Bose, ED(CC&Branding), Head Office, Mumbai said that, “IndianOil’s objective is to make every household in every village in India to have LPG connection to combat the health hazards resulting from indoor air pollution created by use of traditional fuels. In India over 4 million people die prematurely from illness attributable to household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels. Indoor air pollution is a major health hazard in our country…this Mission aims to address this health need of our country”.
Mr. S.Varadachari, General Manager, In Charge, Karnataka, IndianOil said that “It is a proud moment for me to stand here to witness 60 villages being declared as having 100% LPG penetration. IndianOil is always committed to improving the lives of people in the communities that it operates in. I congratulate the entire team that has been involved in making this achievement possible”.
Mr. Abhijit Dey, DGM(LPG), Karnataka highlighted that, “This mission would go a long way in improving the lifestyle and health of the villagers. The initiative has a double benefit, wherein the villagers would now be bank account holders and their LPG subsidy would go to their bank accounts, in addition to improving their health”.
HIGHLIGHTS OF MISSION SMOKELESS VILLAGE AT KARNATAKA:
• IndianOil, Karnataka leaped into the mission from the word go, took the lead in this initiative and chose Vychakurahalli of Gauribidanur taluk, Chikkaballapur district located about 77 kms from Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru, as its first target to implement the project.
• Prior to the launch of the project, the IndianOil team from Bangalore did extensive research in understanding the mindset of the villagers. Visiting door-to-door and educating them about the importance of switching to LPG mode wasn’t an easy task.
• All Panchayat elected members including villagers were called for a meeting. The noble cause of the project in reducing household pollution and improving health aspects by using easy, convenient, clean and safe cooking methods were explained to them.
• A door to door survey was conducted of all houses to ascertain LPG connections, ventilation, kitchen platform, affordability, willingness to use LPG etc. Based on the survey report a focused strategy was adopted to convert those who were willing to take up LPG connections and convince others who were skeptical of using LPG.
• Handbills and pamphlets were issued to highlight the benefits. The mission was successful as everyone in the value chain starting from Panchayat members to LPG distributors to delivery boys to IndianOil officers took up the task with a missionary zeal.
• Distributors conducted LPG registration camps and adopted value added measures to enroll customers. A final survey is done to ascertain that every villager has LPG connection before the Panchayat Development Officer declared the village with 100% LPG connection.
BACKGROUND FOR THE MISSION SMOKELESS VILLAGE:
1. Sixty eight years after independence, Indian women still toil daily to collect fire wood, crop residues and animal dung. It’s time to make an impact on the lives of women.
2. IndianOil’s objective is to make every household in every village in India to have LPG connection to combat the health hazards resulting from indoor air pollution created by use of traditional fuels.
3. The total LPG customer population in Karnataka is 114.45 lacs as of 1st Oct 2015 and 6.29 lakh connections have been released so far during 2015-16. 58% of the customers are having Double Bottle Connection.
4. The idea of Smokeless village was conceptualized keeping in view of the following factors :
a.Over 4 million people die prematurely from illness attributable to the household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels.
b. More than 50% of premature deaths among children under 5 years of age are due to pneumonia caused by particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household air pollution.
c.3.8 million premature deaths annually from non-communicable diseases including stroke, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer are attributed to exposure to household air pollution
d. Major health hazard is indoor air pollution resulting from traditional energy sources -fire-wood, crop residue, animal waste etc.
e. Exposure to smoke / indoor pollution by use of Bio-mass/solid fuels in kitchen is equivalent to smoking 400 cigarettes in a day
f. In India, 0.5-1.0 million deaths due to indoor pollution (Source: WHO data)
5. In most of the Rural Households cooking will be using Firewood not fully aware of impact of household pollution of traditional fuels
6. There is an emergent need for replacing Bio-mass/solid fuels with LPG, being one of the greener fuels.
DISTRIBUTION OF LPG CONNECTION IN VILLAGES:
7. IndianOil releases non-transferable LPG connections to BPL families in rural areas, to extend the usage of LPG for cooking purpose for improving the standard of life apart from conservation of environment.
8. BPL families are provided with LPG connection (Single bottle connection i.e. SBC). The security deposit for one cylinder and pressure regulator is borne by the company.
GIVEIT UP CAMPAIGN:
9. Across Karnataka, 3,68,544 Customers have given up the LPG Subsidy as on 14.12.2015. Out of this 1,73,115 are Indane Customers.
10. The Direct Benefit transfer of LPG (DBTL) scheme PAHAL (Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labh) - Consumers joining the scheme will have to either link their Aadhaar number into their bank account and their LPG consumer or if they do not possess Aadhaar number, they will have to link their bank account directly with their 17 digit LPG Id. Once a Consumer joins the scheme, he will get the cylinders at market price and will receive LPG subsidy directly in his bank account.
11. The household air pollution is one of the biggest risks in India. Mission Smokeless Village will be a major health benefit to the very poorest in both rural and urban India.
