The government is distributing cylinders free of cost in the Covid19 lock-down period to the beneficiaries of the centrally-run Ujjwala scheme. The free cooking gas cylinder distribution is part of the special relief measure announced by the Central government under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to mitigate against the economic losses suffered by the poor due to coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

As per the scheme, three free LPG refills will be provided to the Ujjwala beneficiaries from April to June 2020. This measure along with several others, including direct cash transfer, additional ration supply and increased wages under the national employment guarantee scheme, is meant to provide relief  to the poor, who are hit hard by the disruption in economic activity due to the outbreak and resultant nationwide lockdown.

LEARNING WITH TIMES

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

The Government has launched “Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana”(PMUY) for providing LPG connections to 5 crore women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families over a period of 3 years starting from FY 2016-17. Objective of the scheme is to provide clean cooking fuel solution to poor households especially in rural areas. Use of fossil fuels and conventional fuel like cow dung, kerosene, biomass, etc. has serious implications on the health of rural womenfolk and children. Use of LPG as a cooking fuel helps in effectively addressing health hazards associated with the use of conventional sources of cooking fuels. The Salient features of the PMUY Scheme are as under :-

1. LPG connection is released in the name of adult woman of the BPL family, subject to the condition that no LPG connection exists in the name of any family member of the household.
2. Eligible families are identified through the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) list.
3. The scheme covers the cash assistance upto Rs 1600/- for providing new LPG connection and this cash assistance is provided by the Central Government.
4. The customer bears the cost of Hot Plate and purchase of first refill. The customers have option to take Hot Plate on purchase of first refill or both on loan basis from OMCs at zero interest and the same is recovered through EMIs.