From CK Nayak
New Delhi: The Union government has promised to accord priority to Meghalaya vis-à-vis LPG coverage which is currently the lowest in the hill state.
LPG crisis has hit Meghalaya including the capital Shillong despite routine denial by Indian Oil Corporation time and again.
Negating the IOC’s tall claims, statistics presented in the Parliament have showed that LPG coverage in Meghalaya is lowest not only in the North East region but also compared to the rest of the country. It is lesser compared to similarly placed hill states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir.
This fact came to light when Rajya Sabha member Wansuk Syiem took Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to task for the lowest LPG coverage in Meghalaya compared to other states in the region. This forced the Union minister to commit that Meghalaya will be top on his ministry’s agenda for this basic necessity.
The Union government is committed to enhance LPG penetration in the country with special focus on eastern and North Eastern states including Meghalaya and has earmarked an initial fund of Rs 2,000 crore this year for the purpose, Pradhan said.
Asserting that the government’s endeavor is to provide five crore more LPG connections with focus on poor and BPL families, Pradhan said, “We are focusing on eastern and Northeastern states and we are committed to increase them in the next three years and there will be a quantum jump in LPG penetration.”
Wansuk wanted to know why Meghalaya has the lowest of 22.1 per cent LPG coverage. “I would just like to know the reasons behind it from you,” she questioned the minister amid thumping of desks by party MPs present in the House.
The Minister maintained that Meghalaya and West Bengal, besides Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and other eastern and Northeastern states was top on government’s priority to increase LPG penetration, as the LPG penetration was low in these states.
As many as 5 lakh women out of a total of 15 lakh dying across the world out of domestic pollution were in India as poor women did not have LPG connections, he said. The national average of LPG penetration in the country is 61.3 per cent.
Incidentally, the data revealed that Mizoram has more than full coverage (104.1 %) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (64.2%), Manipur (58.4%), Nagaland and Sikkim (46 % each), Tripura (44.1%) and Assam (42.8%).
Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, all hill states, have nearly 80 per cent LPG coverage.