PAHAL-'Pratyaksha Labh' to beneficiaries and a step to blow corruption
Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG is an everyday need of every home. This facility is now available in almost every home in villages too under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for providing LPG connections to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) households. This LPG is provided by various companies. To increase transparency in the distribution of LPG gas cylinders government started a unique scheme. This scheme is a milestone of government’s work; it leads them to reach towards grass root level of the society. The main intention of linking the Aadhar to this scheme was to verify information, making the aim of this scheme to investigate loopholes of the previously launched LPG transfer scheme, to eliminate the misuse of funds, LPG consumers to get direct benefit to their account, comprehensive database and promote digitization.
Pratyaksh Hanstantarit Labh or PAHAL DBTL (Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG) is recognized as the largest cash transfer programme in the world which was embossed in Guinness Book of World Records. On 5 December 2015 Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan presented the certificate received from Guinness Book of World Records to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
The scheme is with 12.57 crore households receiving cash transfer as of 30th June 2015. As on 03rd Dec 2015, 14.62 crore LPG consumers have joined the PAHAL scheme and are receiving the subsidy directly into their Bank Accounts. As on 28 December 2018, out of 25.17 crores LPG consumers, 23.24 crore consumers have joined the PAHAL Scheme and are getting subsidy in their registered bank accounts.
As per data released on 2nd January 2019 state and Union Territory wise details of complaint consumers as on 28.12.2018 –
Details of average subsidy per cylinder on domestic LPG in Delhi during the year 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 (up to 1st half) are as under –
The PAHAL (DBTL) scheme was earlier launched on 1st June 2013 and finally covered 291 districts. It required the consumer to mandatorily have an Aadhaar number for availing LPG Subsidy. The government has comprehensively reviewed the scheme and after examining the difficulties faced by the consumer substantively modified the scheme prior to launch. The modified scheme has been re-launched in 54 districts on 15 November 2014 in the 1st Phase and to be launched in rest of the country on 1 January 2015.
The world’s largest cash subsidy under the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme was re-launched by the Union Government in November 2014 in 54 districts and is extended all over the country with effect from January 1, 2015. The scheme was launched for the consumers of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). The modified scheme is referred to as Pratyaksh Hanstantarit Labh or PAHAL DBTL (Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG).
Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh, PaHaL, which covers more than 9.75 crores LPG consumers, is perhaps the world’s largest cash transfer program as compared to similar programs in other countries, such as China, Mexico and Brazil.
Under PaHaL, LPG cylinders are sold at market rates and entitled consumers get the subsidy directly into their bank accounts. This is done either through an Aadhaar linkage or a bank account linkage.
PAHAL aims to reduce diversion and eliminate duplicate or bogus LPG connections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed that all steps should be taken to bring the remaining LPG consumers into the fold of PAHAL as soon as possible. He wanted Aadhaar enrolment and linkages with bank accounts to be expedited, taking advantage of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The Prime Minister has also asked for an impact analysis of the programme to be conducted in a professional manner.
The success of the scheme is a result of an intensive Information Education Campaign comprising advertising through various means, directly reaching out to consumers and dealer level campaigns. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has undertaken several innovative measures such as guardian officers for each district, deployment of technology by use of SMS, and a single window portal www.mylpg.in to enable consumers to join the scheme.
The salient features of the Modified DBTL scheme are as follows:
The subsidy per domestic subsidized cylinder shall be fixed.
1. All LPG consumers who join the modified DBTL scheme in future can receive LPG cash subsidy:
- By linking Aadhaar number to the LPG and bank database as the primary option.
OR
- Directly into the bank account without necessarily linking it with the use of Aadhaar as the secondary option.
This will ensure that no consumer is denied LPG subsidy for want of Aadhaar number.
2. All LPG consumers who had already joined the scheme solely based on Aadhaar number will start getting subsidy in their Aadhaar linked bank accounts after the scheme is launched.
3. LPG consumers will get a Grace Period of 3 months during which consumers who have joined the scheme will get subsidy in the bank account and others will continue to get cylinders at the subsidized price.
4. LPG consumers who do not join the scheme after the 3 month grace period, will be eligible for an additional subsidy Parking Period of 3 months. During this period, LPG cylinders to all such consumers will be supplied at market price, but the subsidy due on all LPG supplies will be credited to the bank account as soon as consumer joins the scheme in this period and as per entitlement.
5. LPG consumers who will now join the modified scheme in future will get a permanent advance towards the purchase of the first market priced cylinder equal to the fixed subsidy per cylinder.
A revamped grievance system to attend to consumer grievances will be put in place.
5. Domestic LPG Consumer who had already joined the earlier PAHAL (DBTL) scheme by linking their Aadhaar to bank and LPG database doesn’t need to take fresh action for receiving the subsidy as the subsidy will be transferred to their bank accounts via Aadhaar based on the previous seeding. Such CTC consumers cannot exercise Option II above.
Pricing under PAHAL (DBTL)
In the PAHAL (DBTL) district(s), domestic LPG cylinders will be sold to CTC domestic LPG consumers at Market Determined Price (does not include subsidy) from the date of launch of the scheme.
Some complaints have been received regarding non-transfer of subsidy which was mainly due to deseeding of Aadhaar from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) mapper. The matter was taken up with NPCI.
Most gas companies provide an option to check the PAHAL status on their website. Individuals can do this by submitting certain basic information like their consumer number, the state and district they belong to, and their distributor details.
