Minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said that over 2.20 crore cooking gas connections have been given in the first year of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).

Pradhan said that the PMUY, a flagship scheme of petroleum and natural gas ministry, has surpassed the targets for 2016-17 in terms of installing new connections. It has surpassed the target of 1.5 crore connections for the 2016-17. The scheme was unveiled by PM Modi on May 1, 2016 from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh.

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In the just concluded fiscal, oil marketing companies including Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation have given 3.25 cr new LPG connections across the country. This is the highest ever LPG connections released in any given year. At present, total number of active LPG consumer has crossed 20 crore. This has been a quantum jump from 14 cr in the year 2014, the minister said.

Pradhan said the LPG demand in the country has registered a growth rate of more than 10 percent. More than 4,600 new distributors have been added in the last three years which have come up primarily in rural areas.

“85 percent of the new consumers have come back for a refill. About 38 percent of the beneficiaries in PMUY are from SC/ST category,” he said.