In order to ensure easy availability of essential petroleum products like kerosene and lPG to people at large, the Union Government and various State-Governments are planning a detail scheme, said Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minster of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Speaking to mediapersons in Ahmedabad on the side-lines of his visit to Gujarat, Pradhan said his Ministry handled India’s biggest Public Distribution System (PDS) and more than 3 crore people are visiting petrol pumps, kerosene retailers and lPG distributors.
The Minister said that the focus of his Ministry is on increasing reach of lPG connections in tribal and rural areas. He said that lPG subsidy is now deposited through direct transfer in bank account an in coming days those people who buy kerosene would get subsidy amount directly in their bank. Due to direct benefit transfer in bank account, the beneficiaries would get overdraft facility under Jandhan Yojana, he added. “The Government of India is planning to start pilot scheme in 33 districts across the country including several districts in Gujarat in order to chalk out seamless plan on ground zero for this ambitious scheme,” he said.
On Wednesday the minister had hold a meeting with state minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, secretaries of concerned departments, 7 district collectors of Gujarat and officials of various public sector oil companies in Ahmedabad.
After the meeting Chudasama said that as many as seven district including Banaskantha, Choota Udepur, Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Porbandar and newly carved Devbhoomi Dwarka were included under pilot project of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.