TURA: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) is targeting the enrollment of eight crore LPG customers all over the country, during its observation of ‘Ujjwala Diwas’ on April 20 as part of the ‘Gram Swaraj Abhiyan’.
Briefing The Shillong Times here on Friday, an official informed that by observing the day, the ministry through its PSU Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) intends to promote amongst the rural consumers, the safe and sustained use of LPG through peer group interactions on a large scale. The ministry is expecting to achieve the set target of enrollment during the LPG Panchayat to be held as part of the occasion.
“Our target is to hold 15000 LPG Panchayats on the occasion of Ujjwala Diwas where, apart from sharing experience aimed at safe and sustained usage of LPG, all out efforts will also be made to maximize customer enrollment. Each panchayat will be targeting the participation of 500 women with a goal of enrolling at least 100 new LPG beneficiaries,” the company official, Mukesh Kumar said.
It may be mentioned that an LPG panchayat is a community meeting to serve as a platform for LPG consumers to interact with each other, promote mutual learning and share their experiences. The LPG Panchayat would be organized all over the country, including the five districts of Garo Hills by different distributors in their respective areas.
“Women who have experienced the benefits of cooking with LPG can now boost the confidence of other women about adopting this clean and green cooking fuel safely and without any reservations or misconceptions. Sharing of experience by actual users and learning through peer group interaction is the main aim of the panchayat,” the official said.
According to the official, besides the organization of LPG panchayats, other key activities that will be undertaken to mark the occasion include distribution of new connection to beneficiaries, highlighting the details of expanded PMUY categories and collection of KYC forms for expanded categories of Ujjwala.
Other company officials present during the briefing were district nodal officers for West and East Garo Hills, Utpal Das and Anchit Das.