Odisha to get 3 more LPG bottling plants

Sambalpur: Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said three LPG bottling plants would be set up in Khurda, Balangir and Jeypore, while addressing the state launch of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) at the PHD ground on Monday. He said the capacity of the existing bottling plant at Jharsuguda and Balasore will also be increased.
"Forty per cent of households in the state have LPG connections against the national average of 60%.There are only 32 lakh active LPG consumers in the state now Altogether 13 lakh consumers have been provided with LPG connection in the last two years," said Pradhan,
For development of the state, a target has been set to provide LPG connection to 40 lakh new consumers in the next three years. Of the total 40 lakh, 30 lakh are from the BPL category. The connections will be given away at a function, he added.
Flaying the BJD for calling him postman minister, Pradhan said, "the postman has succeeded in cancelling 3.34 crore ghost LPG connection and checking black marketing, which saved Rs 21,000 crore."
The BJD's young wing, BYJD, recently released a press note, and also a cartoon on social media, terming oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan as a postman.
The PMUY was launched jointly by Pradhan and Union tribal affairs minster Jual Oram. BJP state president Basanta Panda, Kuchinda MLA Rabi Naik, Brjarajnagar MLA Radharani Panda, Padmapur MLA Pradeep Purohit, senior BJP leader Suresh Pujari and the officials of the oil department were present.
Criticising the BJD, Oram said they are telling that the state launch program is misutilisation of government money and questioned if chit fund money was being used to organise meetings of the chief minister. At least 870 beneficiaries were handed over LPG connection at the launch.