SHILLONG: With Meghalaya on Monday coming under the ambit of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) which provides free LPG connection to BPL families, many saw the need for setting up an LPG bottling plant in the State.
Officials present at the launch programme on Monday discussed the issue with Gohain.
Six LPG distributors will be introduced to meet the surge in demand. The State already has 46 distributors.
Speaking on the occasion, Gohain said the scheme, besides benefitting women, will also bring in 10,000 crore business since most of the cylinders and other accessories are being produced within the country.
The scheme assumes significance since just 23 per cent of households in Meghalaya have LPG connection.
Claiming that the scheme has benefitted scores of people across the country, the minister added that 1.11 crore citizens in the country gave up their LPG subsidy till March 2016 and a substantial amount of Rs 8,000 crore allotted for PMUY came from the subsidy that was given up by citizens under the ‘Give-it-Up’ scheme.
Earlier, Health Minister Roshan Warjri said having access to LPG connection is a gender issue as traditionally women are in-charge of cooking throughout the country and added that the scheme would improve the health condition of women and also reduce drudgery of collecting firewood.
Executive Director of Indian Oil Dipankar Ray lamented that the number of households with LPG connection in the State is relatively low since majority of the households in Meghalaya are dependent on fuel like wood, charcoal and kerosene for cooking purposes.
The challenge would be to first bring Meghalaya’s LPG connection close to 49 per cent, which is the average of the northeast,” he said.
During the programme, 24 beneficiaries were also given free LPG connections.
The LPG connections will be released in the name of women only.
While selection of beneficiaries will be from BPL families, preference will be given to SC/ST and weaker sections of society.
The beneficiary list will be as per the Socio Economic Caste Census, 2011.
Women from BPL households, who do not have LPG connections, can apply to the distributors for a new connection under the scheme.
