Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan handed over 5 croreth LPG connection under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) to Takrdiran of Delhi at the Parliament House.

Mahajan lauded the collective efforts the oil marketing companies (OMCs) in achieving the target of 5 crore LPG connection.

Modi government had unveiled PMUY on May 1, 2016 and the scheme is implemented by petroleum and natural gas ministry’s OMCs namely IOCL, BPCL and HPCL. The government had set the target of distributing five crore free cooking gas connections on March 31, 2019 but it achieved the target eight months early. In the current year, considering the huge success of the scheme, the target was revised to eight crore with budgetary allocation of Rs 12,800 crore.

States like Uttar Pradesh (87 lakh), West Bengal (67 lakh), Bihar (61 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (45 lakh), Rajasthan (37 lakh) and Odisha (30 lakh) have accounted for nearly 65 percent of the connections provided by the Centre. A release said that 47 percent of the beneficiaries come from the disadvantaged section of the society.

PMUY has been recognised by World Health Organisation as one of the decisive intervention by the Centre to address indoor air pollution which accounts for nearly 10 lakh deaths annually in the country.