The Pradhan Mantri lPG Panchayat was launched nationally by Vijay Rupani the Chief Minister of Gujarat in the presence of Chief Guest, Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas & Entrepreneurship and Skill Development, GoI, Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Saturday. Also present on this occasion were Dr Kiritbhai Solanki, MP, Ahmedabad (West), Shambhuji Thakor Deputy Speaker, Gujarat Vidhan Sabha and Ashokbhai Patel, MlA, Gandhinagar.
The Government realised that eradication of energy poverty is the single most important welfare measures that would facilitate economic wellbeing of the people. Providing clean fuel for cooking was an enabling measure for economic empowerment of the households. Against this backdrop, Ministry of Petroleum with the objective of making clean cooking fuel available to rural poor households in the country, aiming to improve the health of women and children, decided to launch Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
It is also expected that as a result of using these cylinders, women will have to spend less time in the kitchen and they will be able to use the time saved in productive pursuits. PMUY was launched by our PM, Narendra Modiji on 1st May 2016 and till date the oil industry has succeeded in releasing connections to almost three crore beneficieraries across 710 districts of the country under this scheme in a short span of 16 months. The highlights of PM lPG Panchayat are: Safety and efficiency: Safe, Instant and reliable; Health: Smoke free indoor cooking; Environment: Reduces air pollution, deforestation and desertification; Economic Development: Cheaper fuel leads to better economic opportunity.