The guidelines for the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, which will provide free LPG connections to below poverty line (BPL) families, will be issued soon, the Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Tuesday.
The scheme aims to provide 1.5 crore free LPG connections to BPL families in the fiscal 2016-17. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, held a meeting with State level units of oil marketing companies to gauge the preparedness for the scheme.
At the meeting, he said that identification of BPL beneficiaries will be based on the socio-economic caste census and both the Union and state governments agreed on that.
He urged oil marketing companies to appoint nodal officers for the scheme at state and district levels and urged the management of oil marketing companies to appoint women officers to spearhead the implementation of the scheme.
Pradhan also said that the companies must appoint new gas distributors immediately to cope with the demand of new LPG connections. An official statement said that apart from five crore BPL families in the next three years, five crore non-BPL families will also be provided LPG connections.