Bengal fulfills target LPG connections three months before deadline

As Bengal ranked second among all states in the number of LPG connections provided to women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY), the contribution of the fuel companies to fulfill the desired target within nine months is commendable.

The PMUY started its journey in Bengal on August 14, 2016 and the target for the state was to achieve 30 lakh connections within one year from the date of the launch. The target was successfully achieved within nine months, Ranjan Kumar Mohapatra, Executive Director, Marketing Division, West Bengal State Office and state level co-ordinator for oil PSUs said.

Bengal was chosen as the coverage of LPG in the state was less than the all India average and thus was identified as a priority state. "We are happy to share that the milestone of 30 lakh PMUY connections in Bengal has been achieved within only nine months Along with other normal connections released during the period, the LPG coverage of the state has improved from 51.5 percent to 66.98 percent, which is a great landmark for the state," said Mohapatra.

"Majority of the beneficiaries in this programme are rural woman belonging to the below poverty line category. It may be important to note that the women who benefitted under this scheme are from the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) data of 2011, who also had Aadhaar cards and bank accounts in their name. This in turn has brought a strong sense of individual identity among the women," he added.

Out of 30 lakh connections issued, 11.3 lakh (which is 37 percent) connections have been issued to SC, ST and other economically underprivileged sections of society. Mohapatra, however, said they have a bit of worry about refilling issues. "In Bengal, we are facing 10-12 percent filling-related problems. It will definitely be solved by the time. Sometime villagers tend to buy wood or other options of fuelling and it costs around Rs 800 per month. LPG comes at much cheaper than that," Mohapatra further added.

Mohapatra also informed Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited will complete their factory at 250 TMT-capacity in Panagarh by March 2018 and Indian Oil Corporation will complete their 120-TMT factory in Kharagpur by March 2019.