Safety concerns loom over LPG scheme for BPL homes

NEW DELHI: The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), which envisages providing LPG connections to families below the poverty line (BPL), has run into trouble as distributors have pointed out serious safety loopholes in the scheme and have threatened a longdrawn protest.
The protest has been triggered by a recent incident in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where an entire Ujjwala beneficiary family perished after an LPG leakage and the distributor has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections.

Federation of LPG Distributors of India general secretary Pawan Soni told ET, "We have been writing several letters to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas on the various safety hazards the first-time users are exposed to. But there has been no action. The first-time users are given a laminated sheet of dos and don'ts but there are no concerted efforts to generate awareness putting them at risk. In case of any untoward incident like this one, the distributor is held accountable."

The federation is planning to hold a structured protest next week. A beginning is likely to be made with delivery boys wearing black arm bands across the country followed by distributors refusing to pick up supply from (OMCs) and then an all-India strike.

The ministry of petroleum and natural gas, the nodal ministry for implementation of the scheme, has said that the government has been acting on the inputs and has taken adequate steps to ensure safety of users. Speaking to ET, joint secretary (marketing), Ashutosh Jindal said, "Safety is our priority. We have been working on it. The recent incident is tragic. But we have been actively working to generate awareness amongst users." The ministry said there had been no communication of a protest or a strike.

The federation has pointed out that 90% of the BPL households with LPG connections are unsafe and do not fulfil the basic safety criteria including separate kitchen and living space, pucca house and concrete slabs for cooking. "If you see the advertisement when Ujjwala scheme was launched, it shows a lady cooking on a gas burner kept on the floor. This goes against the safety requirements. The hot plate or chulha has to be put on an elevated surface which is above the level of the cylinder," points out Soni adding that these issues put the users, especially those in remote rural areas, at risk. In case of any mishap, the distributor, who is the end link in the chain, can be held liable under IPC provisions, marketing discipline guidelines of oil marketing companies (OMCs) and Essential Commodities Act.

Aparna Asthana of Indian Oil Corporation told ET that there is a serious responsibility on distributors. "The government has a bigger mission – to remove smoke from the homes. One cannot say that just because people do not have pucca houses they should not get a gas cylinder. We have already taken several initiatives to generate awareness at the grassroot level."