LPG penetration in Odisha reaches 58.55 %

Bhubaneswar: As part of the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat was held at Mangalajodi in Tangi Block of Khurda district by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on Saturday.

The programme was organised with an intention to promote the use of LPG amongst the rural consumers and safe and sustained use of LPG through peer group interactions on a large scale.

Addressing the occasion, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “LPG penetration in Odisha has reached to 58.55 % by 1st May 2018 than that of 20% in June 2014 and the Government of India has set a target of providing gas connections to 80.0 lac household by the end of December 2018”.

Pradhan also added that as of now total 24.23 lacs connections released under Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojna and last year, 177 new LPG distributors have been added to the list which comes around 775 of total LPG distributors as on 1st May 2018.

Additional 225 LPG distributors are being planned to make it total 1000. This shows the level of LPG penetration in Odisha, he added.

He further said that currently, 4 bottling plants are existing in the state (2nd Carousel added at Balasore Bottling Plant and 2nd Shift started at Jharsuguda Bottling Plant Last Year) and three new bottling plants are being planned to be set up in Khurda, Bolangir and Rayagada districts.

It may be noted here that the LPG Panchayat also promoted and enhanced the target of enrolling 8 crore LPG beneficiaries and connections were provided to eligible beneficiaries on that day, during the LPG Panchayat.

The objectives of observation of LPG Panchayat were to sensitise the Ujjwala beneficiaries about safety and utility of LPG, health benefits of using clean fuels, distribution of new connections to beneficiaries, explaining the details of Expanded PMUY categories getting covered and collection of KYC forms for expanded categories of Ujjwala etc.