(PTI)
Over 1.5 crore free cooking gas (LPG) cylinders have been distributed in the last two weeks as part of the government’s stimulus aimed at helping poor tide over hardships of lockdown, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), several relief measures have been announced by the central government for the welfare of poor, one of them being providing three LPG cylinders (14.2 kg) free to over 8 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana (PMUY) between April and June.
An official statement said that for the seamless implementation of the scheme, the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been transferring an advance equal to the retail selling price of cylinder to the accounts of beneficaries. The beneficaries use this money to buy LPG refill. “More than 1.51 crore free LPG cylinders have been distributed so far to the PMUY beneficiaries,” it quoted Pradhan as saying at a review meeting called to discuss the implementation of the scheme here.