Three LPG bottling plants will be set up at Khurda, Balangir and Jeypore in Odisha to cater to the growing demand for cooking gas, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.
The capacity of the existing plants at Jharsuguda and Balasore will also be increased, Mr. Pradhan added.
The Minister was addressing a gathering during the Odisha launch of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) at Sambalpur, about 350 km from here.
“While 40 per cent of households in the State have LPG connections, the national average is 60 per cent. A total of 13 lakh LPG consumers have been added over the past two years, but there are only 32 lakh active LPG consumers in the State,” said Mr. Pradhan.
Terming the move as revolutionary, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said the implementation of the scheme — from selection of beneficiaries to distribution of connections — should be done in a transparent manner across the State.
Mr. Pradhan said 40 lakh households will benefit from the supply of new connections in Odisha over the next three years. Of these, 30 lakh will be BPL households. Awareness for the scheme will be raised by organising fairs at the village level and beneficiaries will be identified based on the socio-economic caste census of the Odisha government.
Twenty beneficiaries from six districts were handed over LPG connections under the PMUY by dignitaries, while 870 received the same at a special function organised for the launch of the Yojna.
“The scheme was conceived by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a step towards empowering women belonging to poor households. Budgetary allocations have been made to provide poor women relief from smoke, drudgery and disease,” said Mr. Pradhan.
“The smoke from firewood, coal, dung cakes, etc., adversely affects the health of women. According to a World Health Organisation report, the smoke inhaled by women is equivalent to 400 cigarettes per hour,” he added.
