BHUBANESWAR: As many as 70,000 additional LPG connections will be provided to eligible beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in the State on Ujjwala Diwas on Friday. The Ujjwala Diwas, part of Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, being organised from April 14 to May 5 aims at promoting the enhanced target of enrolling eight crore beneficiaries through 15,000 LPG panchayats in the country.
Chief General Manager of Indian Oil and State Coordinator of Oil Industry Pritish Bharat said 667 Ujjwala panchayats will be organised across the State as part of the programme. “The LPG panchayats have been planned to promote safe and sustained use of LPG among rural consumers through peer group interactions on a large scale. It would maximise customer enrollment. Safety literature (instruction and insurance cards) will also be distributed during the panchayat sessions,” he said.
The Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have organised a series of activities including sensitisation programme for Ujjwala beneficiaries about safety and utility of LPG and health benefits of using clean fuels. “Women, who have experienced the benefits of cooking with LPG, can now boost the confidence of other women about adopting the clean and green cooking fuel safely without any reservations or misconceptions,” Bharat said.
While so far more than 3.5 crore LPG connections have been provided to BPL families under PMUY in the country, Odisha has added around 23.5 lakh beneficiaries since June 2014.Chief Manager (LPG) of Indian Oil, Prakash Sahoo said increase in LPG penetration is more than 37 per cent in the State with 200 per cent growth in active customer strength. “The number of LPG beneficiaries has increased from 20.22 lakh to 61.2 lakh in nearly four years. Around 15.04 lakh connections, including 12.88 lakh under Ujjwala Scheme, have been provided in the last fiscal,” he said.
Sahoo informed that the OMCs have set a target to provide 20 lakh more connections, including at least 18 lakh under PMUY this year. The State has around 750 LPG distributors and plans are afoot to appoint 150 more to achieve the target.Among others, DGM (LPG Sales) of HPCL, Dharmendra Behura and Sanjay Sharma of BPCL for Odisha and Jharkhand were present.