Madurai: Domestic LPG penetration in Tamil Nadu has increased to 97.6 per cent from 80.8 per cent in April 2016, thanks to the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) which provides domestic LPG connections to people from the economically weaker sections of the society, executive director and state head for Indian Oil (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) R Sitharthan has said.Sitharthan, who is the state-level coordinator for the oil industry in Tamil Nadu was addressing reporters here at the launch of the extended PMUY-2 (EPMUY-2) on Monday. He said domestic LPG coverage in India was 62 per cent before the launch of the scheme and added that the government wanted to achieve five crore new connections under PMUY before the end of this financial year.
“But, we have crossed the six crore connection mark pan India on January 2 and are marching towards the eight crore mark. Forty-eight per cent of the connections under PMUY are from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities,” he said.
He said that those with new connections were making only four or lesser refills annually and added that the biggest challenge is to convince people in tribal areas to give up traditional cooking methods with firewood. “Those finding regular domestic 14.2 kg cylinders expensive can opt for refill with 5 kg cylinders. This is gaining momentum,” Sitharthan said.
Stating that 1.03 crore households across the country gave up subsidy under the direct benefit transfer to the bank accounts of beneficiaries, he added that 23.08 crore domestic connections are getting the subsidy transferred to their bank accounts. So far, more than Rs 96,625 crore has been transferred to their accounts and the government has saved approximately Rs 50,000 crore by curbing diversion of domestic cylinders for commercial purpose, multiple and inactive accounts.
On allegations of fleecing by delivery boys, who demand Rs 30 and Rs 50 per cylinder, an official said that all three oil marketing companies have separate mobile apps on which the customers can directly make their payments.
Chief general manager (LPG) IOCL Tamil Nadu L K S Chauha, regional manager (LPG) South of BPCL S Thangavel and zonal manager (South) of HPCL Ambabhavani were also present.