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The Centre intends to give 28 lakh new LPG connections to BPL families in West Bengal over the next 12 months, Dharmendra Pradhan, MoS (Independent Charge) for Petroleum & Natural Gas, said here on Sunday.
According to him, the target will be to take the total number of LPG connections in the State to 2 crore (APL and BPL put together), over the next two to three years.
As of now, there are 2.15 crore households in Bengal, of which 1.10 crore (including BPL families) have LPG connections.
“The target is to provide clean fuel to 85 per cent of the households in Bengal. Today out of every 100 households, 40 have LPG connections,” he said at the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in West Bengal. The PMUY seeks to provide 5 crore LPG connections to BPL households in the next three years.
Investments According to Pradhan, the Centre will invest over ₹3,200 crore in the State over the next three years. Of this, ₹1,000 crore (almost one-third) will be towards making LPG connections available in these BPL households.
A similar amount will be spent towards augmenting and setting up of LNG terminals. Around ₹700 crore will be towards laying and re-laying of pipelines.
The remaining ₹500 crore will be towards expansion of existing as well as setting up of new bottling plants. Of this amount, ₹190 crore will be spent towards setting up the country’s largest bottling plant at Panagarh. Apart from Panagarh, new plants are expected in Haldia. As of now there are 10 bottling plants in the State – five run by IOCL; three run by BPCL; one each by HPCL and IPPL.
No state representative Pradhan, meanwhile, lamented that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Cabinet colleagues had skipped the occasion. Invitations had apparently been sent out to them too.
“I am like Mamata didi’s younger brother and was expecting her to grace the occasion. If not her, some of her Cabinet colleagues like Jyotipriya Mallick (State food minister) could have attended. This is not a political programme,” he said during his speech. Later, Pradhan during a media interaction, downplayed the comments.
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