Approx 1 lakh jobs provided under Ujjwala Yojana: MoS Petroleum

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Wednesday said that with the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), approximately one lakh people have got employment through the LPG distribution system.

"The LPG coverage has increased from 61.9 per cent to near saturation level in last five years," they added.

As part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, as per the Ministry's press release, more than 14 crore free LPG refills were provided to the PMUY beneficiaries during COVID-19.

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameshwar Teli, shared this information with the participants while addressing the post-budget webinar organized to accelerate development and make public welfare schemes effective.

The webinar was attended by Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the team of social media, representatives from oil marketing companies, distributors and cylinder manufacturers. Jain said that there is a need to make coordinated efforts to take Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana door-to-door.

"To make the scheme effective, special attention should be given to include self-help groups, creation of LPG Bank to serve as micro-finance for refills, to establish the network of micro distributors, along with leveraging existing social network and institutional knowledge to attract consumers for a refill," he said. Nidhi Prabha Tiwari, a social development professional working in the rural sector, said that the loan arrangement for cylinder refill was started in Betul and after that, the number of customers who got refill started increasing.

She informed that women empowerment is getting a boost through the Ujjwala scheme.

( With inputs from ANI )