lPG connections were distributed under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana (PMUY) by Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, in the presence of Tehri MP Maharani Rajya laxmi Shah at Herbertpur, Dehradun on Sunday
Over 500 women from BPl families were handed over lPG connections during the function out of which 10 Women from BPl families were handed over lPG connections by the dignitaries from the dais.
Addressing the large gathering, Pradhan, said that the scheme would impact the lives of women from BPl families in a major way by reducing the drudgery of cooking with polluting fuels and go a long way in reducing indoor pollution and other health related problems being faced by them. This scheme aims at providing, 5 Cr lPG connections to BPl households pan India in 3 years. The PMUY scheme is aimed at replacing the polluting cooking fuels mostly used in rural India with more clean and efficient lPG (liquefied Petroleum Gas). The scheme aims at empowering women and protecting their health and reducing the number of deaths in India due to use of polluting cooking fuels. He said that the main mantra of PMUY is “Mahilaon Ko Mila Samman, Swacch Indhan-Behtar Jeevan”.
He apprised that over 1.1 crore lPG connections have been released under PMUY in last seven months since it’s national launch on May 1, 2016 at Balia, Uttar Pradesh. Over 63,000 lPG connections have been released under PMUY in Uttarakhand in a span of 4 months. Other dignitaries stressed that PMUY would bring to the lifestyles of women from the BPl families. They lauded the efforts of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in implementing the Women Welfare oriented scheme and in fulfilling the dream of Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister in recognising and addressing the problems faced by women.
Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has taken a series of people welfare oriented schemes. On Mach 27, 2015 PM had appealed to well-to-do families to give-up their subsidy on lPG connections so that the money can be used for giving connections to less privileged homes. Taking the appeal forward, MOP&NG launched the ‘Give It Up’ campaign and in little over an year’s time more than 1 crore people across the country from all walks of life, including those from middle class have come forward to support this initiative bringing smiles to a million homes. Another scheme which had received worldwide recognition is the immensely successful "PAHAl Yojana”. This direct cash transfer scheme has brought an end to leakage of lPG subsidies which are now reaching people more effectively. It has been acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest cash transfer program (households) in the world. Currently, 16 crore lPG customers are receiving their subsidy directly in to their bank accounts.
With 2016 being declared as the ‘Year of Consumers’ by Pradhan. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) offer customer centric offerings like Sahaj – the online booking and release of new connections, the online booking and payment for lPG refills, ‘1906’- the 24x7 lPG leakage Emergency telephone helpline, to name a few.