More than 50% of the LPG Connections issued under PMUY are from Uttar Pradesh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 15, 2016
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched to provide LPG connection to 5 crore women belonging to BPL in the next 3 years. As per the latest data, more than 50% of the new LPG connections issued under this scheme are from Uttar Pradesh.
The Government launched ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ (PMUY) for providing LPG connections to 5 crore women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families with a support of Rs 1600 per connection. The Government plans to achieve the target of 5 crore over a period of 3 years starting from 2016-17. As per the latest data available with the government, more than 50% of the 17.66 lakh LPG connections approved under the PMUY scheme are from Uttar Pradesh.
The PMUY Scheme
As Factly reported earlier, an estimated 5 lakh deaths in India are caused by unclean cooking fuels. The PMUY was launched to tackle this issue. It is also expected that an LPG connection will reduce the time rural women spend on foraging wood, dung and other cooking fuel.
Eligible families are identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data. Households having one of the Deprivations in the SECC survey would be the target beneficiaries. The LPG Field officials match the application against SECC 2011 database to ascertain their BPL status.
A woman of a BPL household, who does not have LPG connection in her household, may apply for new LPG connections under PMUY. The prescribed KYC application has to be filled and submitted to the nearest LPG distributor. While submitting the application form, the woman will have to submit Proof of Address, Aadhaar number and Jandhan /Bank Account. The LPG field official/Distributor will match the application against SECC-2011 database and after ascertain their BPL status. Then a physical verification is done to check if a LPG connection is already there. Distributors will enter the details (Name, Address, Aadhaar, Bank account details and Aadhaar Numbers of Adult members of family etc.) into a dedicated Web portal and a de-duplication exercise is done electronically to detect any multiple connections in the house hold or an existing connection with the adult member of household. If no multiple connection is detected, the new LPG connection will be released under the scheme to the beneficiary.
The Entire cost of new connection, including Security deposit (cylinder and Pressure Regulator), the cost of Suraksha Hose pipe, DGCC book, installation and administrative charges on one-time basis, will be borne by the Government. The total cost of new connection borne by the Government is Rs 1600. The customer will have to pay towards purchase of LPG stove and first refill charges at the time of release of new LPG connection under the scheme. Beneficiary will have the option to make an upfront payment for the same or will be provided with option to avail EMI to pay the cost of LPG stove
As of July 2016, a total of 49.32 lakh KYC applications were filled under PMUY in 21 different states. Uttar Pradesh & Rajasthan together accounted for more than half of all the KYC applications filled under PMUY. Out of these applications, 35.54 lakh applications were cleared and 17.66 lakh new LPG connections are issued under PMUY. More than 50% of the issued connections or 9.42 lakh are from Uttar Pradesh followed by 3.99 lakh in Rajasthan. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan together account for more than 75% of the new LPG connections issued. More than lakh new LPG connections each were issued only in two other states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha also figure in the list of States where less than 30% of the households use LPG for cooking as per the SRS Baseline Survey of 2014.
As per information shared by the government in the Lok Sabha, some instances of the beneficiaries’ details not matching with the SECC data have been noticed in various states. There are also instances of households not covered under SECC data. These issues are being taken up with Ministry of Rural Development. Households can also file an objection about the SECC data. A toll free Helpline 18002666696 for answering all queries relating to PMUY has also been launched in June 2016.