Keen to roll out cash payouts for kerosene subsidy, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in allowing the city government to launch the ambitious scheme.

If allowed, Delhi will become the first city in the country to dole out cash payouts instead of subsidised kerosene to the BPL families. The move is aimed at controlling widespread pilferage of the fuel.

"The Chief Minister has written a letter to the Prime Minister in this regard," sources said. As per the proposal put forth by Delhi Government, cash equivalent of the monthly kerosene subsidy will be directly transferred to the bank account of the female head of the family.

A task force headed by UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani in its interim report earlier this month had proposed system of direct transfer of subsidy for kerosene, LPG and fertilisers to the intended beneficiaries.

A BPL family is likely to get around Rs 400 as monthly cash payouts instead of subsidised kerosene if the proposal originally mooted by the Planning Commission goes through. The city government had earlier held discussions with the Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas and a final decision on the issue is yet to be taken.

Every BPL family in the city is entitled to get 22 litres of kerosene per month at Rs 9 per litre against the market rate of Rs 27 to Rs 30 per litre. The subsidy component of kerosene comes to around Rs 18 per litre.