The Uttarakhand has 20 lakh lPG consumers, out of which 80 per cent have already become Cash Transfer Compliant (CTC), said Dhirendra Kumar, manager (lPG-sales), Indian Oil Corporation limited, Dehradun Area office on Thursday.

Around 80 per cent lPG consumers have joined PaHal (Pratyaksh Hanstantrit labh) ie Direct Benefit transfer of lPG (DBTl) scheme in Uttarakhand. In a short period, the enrolment has achieved a satisfactory level of penetration of over 80 per cent, he added.

He further said that at present, a fixed permanent advance of Rs568 is also given to every consumer. This has been revised to become variable every month, equal to the actual subsidy due at the time of booking with the effect from April 1, 2015 and subject to a maximum of Rs568, he added.

He further said that the success of the scheme is a result of an intensive information education campaign comprising of advertising through various means and directly reaching out to consumers, several innovative measures such as guardian officers for each district, deployment of technology by use of SMS, and a single window portal www.mylpg.in to enable consumers to join the scheme.

“PaHal will save subsidy by reducing the incentive to divert subsidised cylinders and also provides an easy exit route for those who do not want to avail subsidy on domestic gas cylinders”, he added.

The enrolments are continuing and it is expected that full benefits will start accruing with market pricing of domestic lPG cylinders cover the entire country with effect from April 1, 2015. A consumer can avail subsidy without Aadhaar as well through a bank account and Aadhaar is not mandatory for joining the PAHAl scheme.

Direct Benefit transfer of lPG (DBTl) is designed to ensure that the benefit meant for the genuine domestic customer reaches them directly and is not diverted. By this process, public money will be saved. lPG consumers who do not wish to avail the lPG subsidy for lPG cylinders can simply choose to opt out of subsidy, he added.