According to information provided by officials on Thursday, 9.34 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme used almost 31.47 crore refills of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
PMUY recipients used 31,47,52,219 LPG refills in FY22, according to data presented by Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. In addition, 5,41,22,389 PMUY beneficiaries only requested four refills during the previous fiscal year.
According to him, PMUY beneficiaries' per capita consumption climbed from 3.01 in FY20 to 3.66 in FY22.
The Minister continued, "Further, the government has taken several steps to encourage LPG consumption by PMUY beneficiaries, including announcement of subsidy of 200 per 14.2 kg refill up to 12 refills per year for PMUY beneficiaries for FY23, option of 5 kg Double Bottle Connection (DBC), swap option from 14.2 kg to 5 Kg, up to 3 free refills to PMUY beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package from April to December 2020, etc."
In response to a separate question in the Lok Sabha, the MoS stated that PMUY, which was established in 2016 to give deposit-free LPG connections to women living in low-income households, has reached its goal of eight crore connections in 2019.
Additionally, under Phase-II of PMUY (Ujjwala 2.0), all PMUY beneficiaries receive a free first refill and stove in addition to free LPG connections with no deposit required.
As of July 1, 2022, 1.35 crore, LPG connections were made available through Ujjwala 2.0 by the oil marketing companies (OMCs). Up till June 30 of this year, OMCs have distributed 116.9 crore refills (other than installation refills) to PMUY beneficiaries.
About Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
On May 1, 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the commencement of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, which will provide 50 million LPG connections to women from households living below the poverty line. The initiative received an ₹80 billion budgetary allotments.
