Centre set to name 10,000 new LPG distributors in this fiscal

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said that 10,000 new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distributors will be appointed in the current financial year. "At present, there are 18,000 gas distributors in the country and in the coming three months, 2,000 new distributors will be made and by the end of this financial year 8,000 more distributors will be made," Pradhan told reporters.

He was here to oversee the preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit on May 1 to launch Ujjwala Yojana.

The ambitious Rs 8,000 crore scheme will provide 5 crore free liquefied petroleum gas connections to below poverty line (BPL) families using the money saved from 1.13 crore cooking gas users voluntarily giving up their subsidies.

Modi will launch the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana here on May 1 and do a repeat function at Dahod in Gujarat on May 15.

Pradhan said that 61 per cent households in the country have LPG connections, while in Uttar Pradesh 53 per cent houses have gas connections.

Besides increasing production in refineries, the government is taking other steps to increase availability of liquefied petroleum gas for consumers, Pradhan said.