The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) gave its clearance to transfer of cash subsidy to domestic cooking gas (LPG) consumers under its ambitious Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme covering 20 districts by May 15. The consumers in the select districts will get the subsidy amount transferred into their bank accounts linked with Aadhaar number.
According to the scheme, the government will transfer the subsidy of around Rs 435 per cylinder directly to consumers instead of giving it to oil companies and will transfer close to Rs 4,000 to every household annually to enable people to buy 9 cylinders of LPG at market price. Currently, state-owned oil firms are selling domestic cooking gas at a highly subsidized rate of Rs 410.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder, which is half the market price and the difference is paid by the government in the form of subsidy to oil companies.
Earlier on April 5, the decision to roll out the DBT on LPG cylinders in a phased manner was taken at a high-powered meeting headed by Prime Minister Singh. There are about 14 crore LPG consumers in the country and the government has already raised the cap on subsidised LPG gas cylinders from 6 to 9 in a year.
