BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday asked the State government to give a list of the families who are eligible for subsidised kerosene under public distribution system (PDS).
Dismissing the State government’s allegation that the Centre is drastically reducing the kerosene quota of Odisha, Pradhan said the average supply of fuel to each family in the State is 28 litre per annum as against the national average of 25 litre. Kerosene quota for each State is decided in consultation with respective Government. This has been the practice since long, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to deliver cooking gas connection to all rural households and the Petroleum Ministry is doing its best to provide cooking gas connections free of cost to poor households under ‘Ujjwala’ scheme, Pradhan said.
Meanwhile, 40 per cent households in the State are using cooking gas while the Government claimed to have provided electricity to 60 per cent of the population.
If the above statistics are true, there should not be any shortage in meeting the demand of kerosene of the households which are still out of reach of cooking gas and electricity, the Union Minister added.
Pradhan’s remark came in the wake of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma’s statement in the Assembly recently blaming the Centre for the scarcity of kerosene in the State. Dasburma said the State government has opposed the Centre’s decision not to provide kerosene for beneficiaries who have received cooking gas under the Prime Minister’s Ujjwala Yojana.