Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Sept 14 : About eight lakh Below Poverty Line (BPL) people in the border State of J&K will be provided free LPG connections under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), which will be launched in the State by Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on September 28.
According to sources, the scheme will be simultaneously launched in capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar the same day.
The Union Minister will straightway visit Srinagar where he and Chief Minister will launch the scheme in presence of Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh, Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, (FCS&CA) Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali at 11 am and later they will come to Jammu where the scheme will be launched at 3 pm.
In the first phase one lakh BPL families in the State will be provided the free LPG connections, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali told Excelsior.
“Total eight lakh consumers have been identified in the State, who will be provided the free LPG connections under the scheme”, he added.
He said the enrolment of the BPL families have been made constituency wise all over the State. The deserving people will be given free LPG connections with gas stove and regulator, he added.
The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at national level this year for the benefit of the poor people especially house wives.
“This is a very beneficial scheme launched by Modi for the welfare of BPL women in the country, said Dr Jitendra Singh. “On one hand it has a economic benefit as the women will get gas cylinder and stove free of cost and on the other hand they will be saved by health hazards to which they were otherwise subjected to in the traditional kitchen due to fumes by burning the wood etc to prepare meals”, he added.
The announcement regarding the launch of the scheme on September 28 was also made by Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh while highlighting the party’s concern towards the women at the Working Committee meeting of BJP Mahila Morcha here. He said launch of the scheme is one of the greatest achievements of the Modi led Government.
Separate functions will be organized in Srinagar and Jammu the same day to distribute free LPG connections under the scheme among the BPL women beneficiaries of the State.
It may be recalled that Minister of FCS&CA Chowdhary Zulfkar had recently held a review meeting with the representatives of oil companies in this regard.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a welfare scheme of Government of India launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year with an aim to provide 5 crore LPG connections in the name of women from BPL households across the country.
Directing the representatives of oil companies, the Minister had asked them to expedite the process of identifying real beneficiaries in tandem with district administration and complete all formalities in time so that they can receive the LPG connection documents on the launching ceremony. The Minister also asked the oil companies to meet the set target of 1 lakh connections to the beneficiaries of the State in Phase-I.
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