BMJD terms Ujjwala as complete failure

BHUBANESWAR: Alleging that Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana launched by the Centre has been a complete failure, Biju Mahila Janata Dal (BMJD), the women wing of BJD, on Monday demanded that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas should bring out a white paper on the number of free LPG connections provided under the scheme and how many went for refills.

Referring to the reply of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan in the last session of Parliament to an unstarred question from MP Prashant Nanda, BMJD president Minati Behera said 30.48 lakh beneficiaries were covered under the scheme till July 30. Only 8,18,786 beneficiaries opted for refills in 2016-17, she said and added that the number of came down to 6,45,265 in 2017-18.

Behera said 1,05,508 beneficiaries were covered under the scheme in Angul, the home district of Pradhan. The BMJD also criticised BJP for politicising implementation of the scheme by keeping out the state machinery from distribution of LPG connection. BJP leaders selected the beneficiaries and LPG connections were distributed by BJP leaders at a meeting organised by IOCL, she said. Working president of BMJD Sulochana Das, general secretary Sulata Deo and secretary Elina Das were present.

General secretary of State BJP Lekhashri Samantsinghar said the number of beneficiaries under the scheme in the entire country has reached 5.8 crore.