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ITANAGAR, June 11 - Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu along with Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and State’s Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kamlung Mossang today launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), an ambitious scheme of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas which aims to provide free LPG connections to BPL families in the country.

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 1 last year, PMUY aims to safeguard the health of women & children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – LPG, so that they don’t have to compromise their health in smoky kitchens or wander in unsafe areas collecting firewood. Under this scheme, five crore LPG connections will be provided to BPL families with a support of Rs 1,600 per connection in three years.

As a symbolic launch of PMUY in the State, 24 beneficiaries were handed over LPG connections in a function at State Banquet Hall here today. Expressing gratitude to PM Modi for launching the people-oriented scheme, Khandu said the scheme would benefit Arunachal Pradesh immensely as more than half of the population, especially in the rural areas, still use firewood for cooking and hence indirectly impacts the State’s rich forest cover.

Hailing the scheme as one of the best, Khandu announced that the State Government would offer additional Rs 1,000 to each beneficiary. With this announcement, a beneficiary of the State would avail a total of Rs 2,600 as assistance for one connection that includes security deposit, pressure regulator, safety hose, consumer card and installation charges.

“In these three years, Modiji has taken several big decisions and launched more than 90 schemes catering to every section of the society. It is now our responsibility to take these schemes to the genuine beneficiaries in a transparent and judicious manner,” Khandu said while reiterating his call for change of people’s mindset and to develop work culture.

Informing that highest number of cases of lung cancer are reported from North East, MoS Rijiju blamed it on use of firewood for cooking in almost all households of the region. He said PMUY will now change this scenario and in the process provide a clean environment and preserve forests. He asserted that it was the responsibility of each one in the State Government to successfully implement all schemes launched by the Centre.

As per Oil Industry records, Arunachal Pradesh, as on May 1, 2017, has around 3.04 lakh households with an LPG coverage of 64 per cent. In order to achieve 100 per cent penetration in days to come, oil marketing companies will be organising ‘melas’ and camps at various locations for releasing LPG connections to BPL families.

Besides, seven new LPG distributors are in pipeline to meet the surge in LPG demand in the State. 

Also present in the function were Parliamentary Secretaries Tage Taki (Food & Civil Supplies) and Techi Kaso (UD & Housing), Chief Secretary Shakuntala D Gamlin, Indian Oil Chief General Manager KK Handique, DK Ray from HPCL and Pankaj Das from BPCL.

Source: Assam Tribune