Refill pinch: Ujjwala beneficiaries back to firewood as LPG price soars
RAIGANJ: With the continuous surge in price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) have reverted to traditional clay ovens for cooking instead of LPG. Numerous families living below the poverty line at Debinagar, Birghoi, Bahin and Barua villages near Raiganj town of North Dinajpur district are cooking using firewood. The consumption of gas cylinders under the PMUY scheme has drastically dipped in the last few months.
Earlier, people used to cook in charcoal and wood fire. Women had to face health hazards with the traditional fire coupled with the smoke. It would also affect the eyes.
The Central government came up with the scheme under PMUY whereby LPG gas connections were distributed free-of-cost to the BPL families. Since then, the residents stopped the use of traditional clay ovens and shifted to the more convenient LPG.
However, their happiness was short-lived. With the price of LPG skyrocketing and having nearly doubled in the last two years, they have reverted to the traditional methods. Now, people under PMUY have to purchase each LPG cylinder at Rs 1200.
They receive a subsidy of Rs 290 from the Central government whereas the general customer receives Rs 79 against the purchase of each gas cylinder.
Now, most of the customers under the Ujjwala scheme purchase LPG cylinders in a gap of three to four months, mostly relying on firewood and coal for cooking.Rina Sarkar, housewife from Debinagar village in Raiganj said: “We got LPG connection under PMUY, free-of-cost, two years ago. Now, the price of each cylinder is Rs 1200. At this price, it is impossible for us to purchase LPG cylinders each month. So, we started to use firewood to prepare food.”
Adding to this, Sadhana Mandal of Birghoi village stated: “The LPG oven has now become a showpiece.”
Paban Kumar Agarwal, LPG gas dealer of Raiganj, said: “The price of LPG cylinders has been rising continuously for the last two years. So, the sale of LPG cylinders under PMUY has dipped drastically in the last year. Now, most of the customers under PMUY are purchasing cylinders in a gap of three to four months instead of every month.”
