By: Vijay Kumar Verma, Editor-ICN Group
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh is poised to become the first state in the country to provide clean and smoke free LPG fuel to each family of the state, said Kishan Kapoor, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister. He told that by next year each and every home will have LPG connection.
The government of Himachal Pradesh, under its flagship ‘Grihini Suvidha Yojana’ has distributed over 22,000 free LPG connections to the poor families of the state within 5 months of its launch on 26th May 2018. The objective is to provide a new dimension to women empowerment in the state.
The scheme is in addition to the Ujjwala scheme of the Government of India under which more than 81,000 connections have been provided to the BPL families.
Food and Civil Supplies Department had set a target to provide 33,264 LPG connections in the current financial year. Under the scheme, the department provides LPG cylinder, ISI mark gas stove, safety pipe and regulator free of cost to the eligible families. So far, the department has received 1,61,207 applications. The state Government is spending Rs. 3500 per connection and aims to cover cent percent families with LPG facility during the next two years.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur envisioned the scheme as an added mile stone in women empowerment in the state and made a provision of Rs. 12 crore for current fiscal. Accordingly the scheme was launched on May 26, 2018. Besides empowering the women of the state, the purpose of the scheme is environmental protection and forest degradation. After getting the LPG connection, women will get rid of the household smoke which has been a major threat of various ailaments. The scheme is covering those families, who were left out under umbrella of ‘Ujjwala’ scheme of the union government.
Certain conditions have been emphasised to get benefit of the scheme viz: the family should not have any LPG connection, no member of the family should be a government/semi-government, autonomous body, board and corporation employee and pensioner as well. No member of the family shall be income tax payer. Apart from this, no member of the family should be a registered contractor with the government agency. All those families will not be in a position to take advantage of the scheme, which were split after January 1, 2018. However, these families are put in the waiting
Under the Scheme, the LPG connections are also provided to the families affected by the natural disaster. After natural calamities like flood, cloudburst or fire, the affected families are immediately provided with the facility of LPG cylinder, irrespective of the fact that the family already has connection.
