Bengal’s BPl women will no longer have to shed tears to cook the meal as they will get freedom from kitchen smoke a day before India’s Independence Day, thanks to the decision of the Petroleum Ministry to launch the Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana in the State.
Union Petroleum Minister and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan will launch the PMUY scheme in Kolkata’s Nazrul Manch on August 14, RK Mahapatra General Manager (WBSO) of Indian Oil said on Thursday.
The scheme a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was first launched by him at Balia in Uttar Pradesh will be launched in Bengal to afford free gas connections to the BPl families.The connection will be given in the name of women members from the BPl households upon fulfillment of three prerequisites — Aadhaar Card, bank account and registration with the Socio-economic-Caste Census (SECC) of 2011.
“This scheme is being taken to fulfill the dreams of the honourable Prime Minister who wants smoke-free villages,” particularly in Bengal which has about 52 percent coverage under lPG scheme as against the national average of 59 percent Mahapatra said.
Under this scheme — aimed at replacing unclean cooking fuels mostly used in with clean fuel like lPG — about 5 crore lPG connections will be provided to eligible households in the next three years, he said adding a support of Rs 1,600 will be provided to the beneficiaries. “The Oil Making Companies will provide the facility for meeting the cost of stove and the first refill,” he said.
On why the connections will be issued in the name of women only the officer said this was being done to ensure women empowerment especially in rural India. To ensure efficient implementation of the scheme District Nodal Officers and OMCs have been appointed in all the 20 districts he said adding district-level fairs or melas will be organized to facilitate the programme.