In a bid to make its ambitious ‘direct benefit transfer for LPG consumers’ initiative a success, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas plans to offer incentives to distributors.
The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily said: “This special incentive for distributors is for smooth and effective roll-out across the country. The incentive is also for speedy implementation of the scheme.”
There are around 12,600 distributors in the country supplying LPG to over 14 crore households covering 60 per cent of the country’s population.
“The Ministry is also planning to expand and popularise the use of domestic LPG to cover 75 per cent of the population in the next three years,” Moily said at the launch of scheme for LPG consumers at Tumkur in Karnataka.
Incentive mechanism
The Oil Ministry is working on a mechanism to incentivise distributors for seamless implementation of the project, Moily said. “The details and the quantum of incentives is being worked out and will be decided in the next three months.”
The Minister urged State Governments to support the Oil Ministry for smooth implementation of the subsidy scheme for consumers. “The scheme, when effectively implemented, will be a big game changer, as we are likely to see savings to the extent of Rs 10,000-11,000 crore annually,” said Moily
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), said: “So far in the country 40 crore registrations have been made for Aadhaar cards. Of this, 35 crore has been authenticated. In Karnataka, about three crore people have registered for Aadhaar cards, of which 2.2 crore have received it.”
“We have approached Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to help us in setting up more enrolment centres to cover the entire state in nine to 12 months,” he said, adding that the Chief Minister “is positive”. Siddaramaiah, said: “The scheme is being rolled out in two districts in the state – Mysore and Tumkur. It will benefit about 2.57 lakh consumers in Tumkur.”
Dual benefits
Moily further said liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas are considered as the fuels of the century and clean compared to fossil fuels such as kerosene and diesel. “It is important for State Governments to encourage the use of gas in public transport and make Indian households kerosene free – this benefits both the people and the environment.”
Listing the gas and oil projects being implemented in Karnataka, Moily said a separate LNG terminal at Mangalore is planned. The feasibility report for it is ready and the foundation stone is expected to be laid after the monsoons.