5.88 lakhs free Ujjwala LPG refill in Odisha under PMGKY

Bhubaneswar: The Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have delivered 5.88 lakhs free LPG refills to the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries so far.

OMCs have initiated fund transfer amounting to Rs 341 crores as advance amount of 1st refill. OMCs in Odisha till end of 14th April have delivered 5.88 lakhs free LPG refills to PMUY customers, said a statement on Wednesday.

In order to alleviate the socio-economic fall out of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Government of India has announced free refills for all the Ujjwala Yojana consumers for the next three months, i.e. from 1st April 2020 to 30th June 2020.

This forms a part of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). 8 Crore PMUY (Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana) beneficiaries will be entitled to free domestic LPG cylinders.

Accordingly, it has been decided to transfer the full RSP (Retail Selling Price) of the refill cost for April 20, in advance, to the linked bank account of Ujjwala beneficiaries solely for the purpose of utilising this amount to purchase the free LPG cylinders.

A PMUY customer is entitled to one cylinder per month. The beneficiary can book the next refill only after 15 days of receipt of the last refill.

The booking of refill must be done through IVRS or registered mobile number. Refill acknowledgement can be OTP based/Lat-long capture/undertaking, besides cash-memo signature and blue book entry.

Since inception of the PMUY free refills under PMGKY, Oil Marketing Companies across India have initiated fund transfer to 7.23 crores PMUY beneficiaries amounting to a sum of Rs 5663 crores and have delivered 1.32 crores of free LPG refills to PMUY customers.

Beneficiaries in Odisha have come forward to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this assistance amid this crisis.

Bhanumati Sahoo, an Ujjwala beneficiary of tribal dominated Rayagada district said, “I pay my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing us free LPG cylinder during this lockdown, when we have no option to work and earn.”

Similarly, Banita Panda of Berhampur, Amita Das of Balasore and Arati Mangaraj of Bhubaneswar have also expressed their gratitude to Prime Minister.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan has welcomed the initiative of Oil Marketing Companies.

In a Tweet, he said, “Welcome the humanitarian decision taken by Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL. This gesture of goodwill is recognition of the services rendered by our personnel in these trying times. Well-being of our workers is of paramount importance; this compassionate move will strengthen the safety nets of our workforce aiding India’s fight against corona.”