To ensure clean energy access to all poor households: Ujjwala Yojana to enrich 8 crore beneficiaries

New Delhi, February 8: In a bid to ensure clean energy access to all poor households, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its nod to enhance the target of beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from 5 crores to 8 crores with an additional allocation of 4,800 crore rupees.

While expanding the target, the Government has also addressed the practical difficulty faced in PMUY implementation, namely, genuinely poor households left out of Socio-Economic Caste Survey (SECC) list.

Alos, Cabinet approved to expand the Scheme to cover all SC/ST households, beneficiaries of PMAY (Gramin), Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY), Forest dwellers, Most Backward Classes (MBC), Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, people residing in Islands and rivers etc. in addition to SECC identified households.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs said that the Government does not only announce schemes but is committed to their time-bound implementation.

Under the PMUY, the original target was to release 3 crore connections by the end of FY 2017-18, but as a result of efficient scheme implementation and monitoring, more than 3.35 crore connections have been released till date across all States/UTs, largely benefitting SC/ST communities.

In all, more than 4.65 crore applications have been received. In order to ensure smooth implementation of the Scheme, as the number of applications touches the 5 crore mark and on account of huge response from women, particularly in rural areas, the Cabinet has decided to enhance the target from 5 crore to 8 crore with an additional allocation of Rs. 4800 crore.

Vision of PM Modi is to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households in the country has been taken forward through implementation of PMUY. An adult woman member of BPL family identified through Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC data is given a deposit free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs. 1600/- per connection by Government of India.

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a welfare program of the government of India, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016. The stated objective of the program is providing 50,000,000 LPG connections to women from families below the poverty line.