Setting a target to facilitate lPG connection to 75 lakh families which constitute 70 per cent of the total family in Odisha by December 2018, the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has decided to launch the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) at the panchayat level across the State.
“Union PNG Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has strictly instructed to provide lPG connections to at least 70 per cent BPl households in the State by December 2018. For smooth execution of the initiative and also to meet the target, we have decided to launch the scheme at panchayat level,” said Chief lPG Manager and State Nodal Officer for PMUY G Swaminathan at a Press meet hereon Tuesday.
He also said that to achieve this, the Minister has set a target of release of 30 lakh new lPG connections under the PMUY and another 10 lakh under normal release (APl category) by December 2018.
lPG is a source of clean fuel to millions of poor households in the country and an effective tool for empowering women of poor households and for bringing about social change.
According to studies and experts, switching to lPG for cooking brings immense health benefits. A typical biomass cook stove per hour releases 400 cigarettes equivalent of smoke, he informed.
Distributors and distribution companies would talk to the villagers directly for lPG connections, thereby keeping middlemen at bay, he added.
He also said the scheme is aimed at replacing the unclean cooking fuels mostly used in the rural India with the clean and more efficient lPG (liquefied Petroleum Gas).
The lPG connection percentage has increased to 40 per cent in Odisha by now. Earlier, only 24 per cent households had lPG connections in the State, he informed.
Nearly 15,000 new lPG connections were provided between July and August this year across the State.
Notably, the Union Government has set a target of 5 crore lPG connections to be distributed to BPl households across the country under the scheme.
The scheme would also change the lifestyle and health leads of women, he added.
Senior Area Manager PK Sahu and Santosh Panigrahi were present, among others.