In the last five years, 4.13 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana have not refilled the cylinder even once. The Central Government gave this information in Parliament on Monday. He also told that 7.67 crore beneficiaries got the cylinder filled only once. This was questioned by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge.
New Delhi: The Central Government told Parliament on Monday that 4.13 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) have not refilled cylinders even once in the last five years. At the same time, 7.67 crore beneficiaries got the cylinder filled only once. This information was given by the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameshwar Teli in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House Mallikarjun Kharge had sought details of PMUY beneficiaries from the central government who have or have not refilled cylinders once in the last five years. Giving the figures, Teli said that between 2017-18, 0.46 crore PMUY beneficiaries did not refill any cylinder while 1.19 crore beneficiaries did one cylinder refill.
According to him, 1.24 crore during 2018-19, 1.41 crore during 2019-20, 0.10 crore during 2020-21 and 0.92 crore during 2021-22 did not refill cylinder even once. He said that 2.90 crore during 2018-19, 1.83 crore during 2019-20, 0.67 crore during 2020-21 and 1.08 crore during 2021-22 refilled cylinders only once.
The Union Minister said that during the financial year 2021-22, out of total 30.53 crore domestic customers, 2.11 crore domestic LPG customers did not refill any cylinder while 2.91 crore domestic LPG customers got cylinder refilled only once.
Teli said that household LPG consumption by households depends on several factors like eating habits, size of the family, cooking habits, price and availability of alternative fuels.
He said that the government keeps on increasing the effective price for the consumer of domestic LPG as per the requirement. He said that the subsidy as admissible is deposited in the account of the eligible beneficiaries.
The Union Minister said that the Government has announced a fixed subsidy of Rs 200 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 12 refills per year for the year 2022-23 for PMUY beneficiaries with effect from 21st May 2022.
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in May 2016 to provide clean cooking fuel like LPG to rural and underprivileged households, especially those who use traditional fuels like firewood, coal, cow dung etc. as fuel. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched as a flagship scheme for the purpose. According to the ministry, the use of conventional fuels has harmful effects on the health of rural women as well as on the environment.
