Rs 187 cr cash transferred directly to LPG consumers

As on August 20, Rs 187.65 crore cash has been transferred in the hands of LPG consumers in the 20 districts under the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme. This was stated by the Ministry for Petroleum & Natural Gas today.

Over 4.5 million direct cash transfers have been effected to consumers’ bank accounts by August 20 under the scheme, which was launched on June 1 in 18 districts and on July 1 in Mysore district (Karnataka) and on August 1 in Mandi district (Himachal Pradesh) in high Aadhaar coverage districts of 8 States and 2 Union Territories.

The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, M. Veerappa Moily, had recently approved roll out of DBTL scheme in 35 more high Aadhaar coverage districts on September 1 in the States where the Scheme is already implemented. With this total number of districts to be covered by DBTL Scheme would come to 55.

This will add about 1.4 crore LPG consumers in these 35 districts taking the total number of LPG consumers to 2.12 crore under DBTL. Further roll out will be announced soon after a detailed review, the Ministry said.

The Scheme was launched with an aim to curb leakages and prevent black-marketing and provide subsidy to consumers in their bank accounts. In these districts, the subsidy on LPG cylinders is being provided directly to consumers in their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

All Aadhaar-linked domestic LPG consumers get an advance of Rs 435 in their bank account as soon as they book the first subsidised cylinder before delivery. As soon as, the first subsidised cylinder is delivered to such consumers, the next subsidy will again get credited in their bank account, which can then be available for the purchase of the next subsidised cylinder at market rate.

After the launch of the Scheme on June 1, all LPG consumers in 18 districts who have not linked their Aadhaar number to LPG consumer number and their bank account have been given a grace period to do so till August 31. During this period they are continuing to get the LPG cylinders at subsidized rate, up to the cap of 9 cylinders. In Mysore, the grace period ends on September 30 and in Mandi, it ends on October 31.

After the end of the grace period, LPG cylinders will be sold to all domestic LPG consumers at market price, the Ministry said adding that however, the subsidy will be transferred to only those who have linked Aadhaar number to LPG consumer number and bank account and others will not get any subsidy.