50 lakh BPL families to get LPG connection in state

Patna: Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan here on Monday announced that 50 lakh new LPG connections would be given to BPL families in Bihar in the next three years. He was speaking at the launch of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY) at a function at S K Memorial hall. PMUY aims to cover 5 crore families in the next three years across the country at a budget of Rs 8,000 crore.The beneficiaries would be women selected on the basis of social-economic caste census (SECC) data.
On the occasion, 100 women beneficiaries from BPL families were given free LPG connections, out of which 45 were handed over the papers on the stage.
The minister also promised to increase the capacity of existing LPG bottling plants and also set up two new bottling projects at Banka and Sugauli. He said 2,000 new LPG distributors would be appointed for smooth operation. The state would also have a toll-free number where people could lodge complaints related to LPG connections.
“Now, people would not be forced to buy stove of any particular brand while taking new connections, as was done earlier. Strict action would be taken against those distributors who force people to do so,” said Pradhan. Bihar will also benefit the most from the GAIL’s upcoming Jagdishpur-Haldia 450km pipeline, he said.
Pradhan said the aim behind launching this scheme was to provide safe and healthy environment to poor women. “Every year, five lakh women die because of health problems related to smoke of chullhas. We want to provide them safer and cleaner option.”
Targeting Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and the state’s Mahagathbandhan government, he said, “Those who consider themselves as the messiah of poor and minorities had left the women to die in smoke.” To support his claim, he said the number of total LPG connections in Bihar till May 2014 was only 48 lakh, but now the figure stood at 68 lakh. He regretted that Mahagathbandhan has raised questions against PMUY as well.
Pradhan criticized the Nitish government for not providing land to his department for carrying out various developmental works.
Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Radha Mohan Singh, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Upendra Kushwaha, Ram Kripal Yadav and Giriraj Singh along with other senior BJP functionaries were present on the occasion.