Emphasizing the government’s decision to increase the target of providing free liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connection to 8 crore from 5 crore, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has said that as many as 3 crore additional free cooking gas connections will be given to poor households at an extra expense of Rs 4,800 crore and added that the revised target of 8 crore will be achieved by March 2020.
Pradhan further noted that under Prime Minister’s Ujjwala Scheme to make poor women free from the smoke of wood, 5 crore connections were to be given by 2018-19 fiscal year end and total Budgetary allocation made was Rs 8,000 crore and now, the scheme has been extended by one year and the target of beneficiaries also enhanced by 3 crore more connections.
Besides, the Minister also highlighted the expansion in scope of the scheme to cover all the eligible beneficiaries across the country. Earlier, the Ujjwala beneficiaries were being chosen from the Socio Economic Caste Survey (SECC) 2011 list only, but now the list has been expanded to include providing free cooking gas connection to all SC/ST households, forest dwellers, most backward classes, inhabitants of islands, nomadic tribes, tea estates and beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Antyodaya Yojana.