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Ngahorning Kashung, center, addresses media persons during a press conference at the Europa Inn in Dimapur, on Thur. Jan. 3.[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Jan. 3 (EMN): The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a social welfare scheme of the ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has been announced to have been ‘extended’ further to ‘Extended Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana-2’ (EPMUY). The extension is to reach out to entire poor households in the country.
The announcement about the scheme was made at a press conference, where details about the PMUY—revised scheme in the state of Nagaland—were given. It was conducted on Thur. Jan. 3 at the Europa Inn in Dimapur by the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. on behalf of all oil marketing companies in Nagaland, led by state coordinator, Ngahorning Kashung.
The PMUY was initially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 1 2016 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. In Nagaland, it was launched on May 31 2017.
The scheme envisages that providing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to women from the below poverty line households will ensure ‘universal access of clean cooking fuel for all’ in the country. It aims at empowering women besides protecting their health; and to adding to efforts toward making the country smoke-free.
According to Kashung, the PMUY initially aimed to cover the ‘socio economic cast census (SECC) 2011’ households. The scheme was subsequently extended to EPMUY, covering seven types of households which includes the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana Gramin beneficiaries; schedule tribes/schedule cast; ‘most backward castes’; Antyodaya Anna Yojana beneficiaries; forest dwellers, river island and island dwellers; and ‘tea and ex-tea garden tribe.’
The government extended the LPG connection scheme to all poor households in India as part of the EPMUY 2. Kashung explained that the beneficiaries would get LPG cylinders. A security deposit for the cylinder along with a hose pipe and administrative charge will be free.
“But the consumer should to pay for the gas stove which cost INR 990 and for the LPG that is inside the cylinder. These two components come to around INR 1700 approximately,” he said. He explained that the beneficiary can apply for a loan to recover the money that was paid. Loan recovery will commence after the sixth refill, whereby the beneficiary can recover the INR 1700.
Further, Kashung said that forms shall be available with the respective gaon burah or gas distributor; there are 56 distributors in the state. The consumer is then to submit the form to the local gas distributors along with these documents: priority household ration card, supplementary PMUY know your customer (KYC) documents; a photocopy of a bank passbook, and Aadhaar card.
The data of the person contained in the KYC form will be entered in the National Informatics Centre (NIC) database. Kashung cautioned that the beneficiaries can avail connection only if the NIC data shows that the person does not have a connection. It will be rejected if the person already has a connection.
For further queries, one may contact the PMUY’s toll free number 18002666696.
The PMUY was also announced to have achieved six crore connections in India. Kashung said that the target of five crore was set for March 2019 but was achieved eight months prior to the given date. He added that the central government currently targets releasing two crore more to make an aggregate of total eight crore by March 2020.
In Nagaland, the scheme was able to achieve 42, 000 connections with a total coverage 60% of the total households. The table shows the different coverage percentage achieved in the districts of Nagaland.
