New Delhi, July 26: The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that the Government launched “Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana” for providing LPG connections to 5 crore women belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families with Government assistance over a period of 3 years starting from FY 2016-17.
Eligible families are identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data. The LPG Field officials match the application against SECC 2011 database to ascertain their BPL status. OMCs undertake electronically the de-duplication exercise and other measures for due diligence before release of new LPG connection.
Some instances have come to the notice of OMCs of the beneficiaries’ details not matching with the SECC data. There are also instances of households not covered under SECC data. These issues have been taken up with Ministry of Rural Development for necessary action.
A toll free Helpline 18002666696 for answering all queries relating to PMUY has been started from 03.06.2016.
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. have reported that there is no established case of harassment with regard to release of LPG connections under PMUY. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. has reported one established case of harassment in the State of Madhya Pradesh and the distributor has been penalized in accordance with the prescribed guidelines.