Distribution of LPG connections under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
New Delhi 10-Oct-2016
LPG connections were distributed under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) today at Panipat by Shri Manohar Lal, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Haryana in the presence of Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India.
Shri Karna Dev Kamboj, Hon'ble Minister of Food and Civil, Haryana, Shri Krishan Lal Panwar, Hon'ble Transport Minister, Haryana, Smt. Rohita Rewari, Hon’ble MLA Panipat City, Shri Mahipal Dhanda, Hon’ble MLA Panipat Rural, Shri Ravinder Machhrouli, Hon’ble MLA Samalkha, Shri Ashutosh Jindal, Joint Secretary (Marketing), MoP&NG, Shri Sandeep Poundrik, Joint Secretary (Refineries), MoP&NG, Shri B Ashok, Chairman, IndianOil, Sh. Sanjiv Singh Director (Ref.), IndianOil, Shri SS Prasad, Addl Chief Secretary, Haryana also graced the occasion. Other distinguished guests included senior officials from MoPNG, Oil Industry and State Government. Women from BPL families from the state were handed over LPG connections by the dignitaries from the dais.
In his address, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Manohar Lal said that the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is an excellent scheme fulfilling the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister to provide clean fuel to the BPL families and is a boon to women to experience cooking without smoke. He thanked Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge), MoP&NG for accepting his suggestion of commencing this scheme in Haryana. He spoke about various initiatives started by Govt. of Haryana for women empowerment. He informed that with the help of Skill Development Mission, many centres are being setup in Haryana to empower the youth of Haryana and generate employment in the state.
Addressing the large gathering, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of State (I/C), MoPNG explained the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and said that 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 being faced by them. This scheme aims at providing, 5 Cr LPG connections to BPL households pan India in 3 years. The PMUY scheme is aimed at replacing the polluting cooking fuels mostly used in rural India with more clean and efficient LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). The scheme aims at empowering women and protecting their health and reducing the number of deaths in India due to use of polluting cooking fuels. He said that the main mantra of PMUY is “Mahilaon Ko Mila Samman, Swacch Indhan-Behtar Jeevan”.
Shri Pradhan also said that over 76 Lakh LPG connections have been released under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in a short span of 5 months since it’s national launch on 1st May 2016 at Balia, Uttar Pradesh. He praised the Haryana Govt. for making it first kerosene free state and said that Haryana has presented a Kerosene free model which will save subsidy to the tune of approx Rs.100 crore annually. In the next one year all households of Haryana would have LPG connections. He also informed that IndianOil would set up a 2nd generation ethanol blending plant in Panipat on a pilot basis, with an investment of approx Rs. 500 cr., to generate fuel from agricultural waste, which will result in additional income to farmers of Haryana. He also said that Panipat refinery’s capacity will be augmented to 25 MT with an investment of around Rs. 15000 cr and will be producing BS VI fuel by 2020 which will generate additional revenue to the state Govt.
Distinguished speakers, in their address, emphasized the major change that PMUY would bring to the lifestyles of women from the BPL families. They lauded the efforts of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in implementing the Women Welfare oriented scheme and in fulfilling the dream of Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister in recognizing and addressing the problems faced by women.
Under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has taken a series of people welfare oriented schemes. Hon’ble Prime Minister in his address on 27th March 2015 had made an appeal to well-to-do families to give up their subsidy on LPG connections so that the money thus saved can be utilized for giving connections to less privileged homes. Taking the appeal forward, MOP&NG launched the ‘Give It Up’ campaign and in little over an year’s time more than 1 crore people across the country from all walks of life, including those from middle class have come forward to support this initiative bringing smiles to a million homes. Another scheme by The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, under the guidance of Hon’ble Prime Minister, which had received worldwide recognition is the immensely successful "PAHAL Yojana”. This direct cash transfer scheme has brought an end to leakage of LPG subsidies which are now reaching people more effectively. The scheme has been highly effective in elimination of duplicate LPG connections. The "PAHAL" scheme has been acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest cash transfer program (households) in the world. Currently, 16 crore LPG customers are receiving their subsidy directly in to their bank accounts.
With 2016 being declared as the ‘Year of Consumers’ by Mr.Dharmendra Pradhan, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has ensured that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) offer customer centric offerings like Sahaj – the online booking and release of new connections, the online booking and payment for LPG refills, ‘1906’- the 24x7 LPG leakage Emergency telephone helpline, to name a few.
