New Delhi (NVI): Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), the number of LPG connections have more than doubled, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said here, today.
While addressing at the International Women’s Day conference for celebrating Ujjwala, Pradhan said that the PMUY scheme has been one of the biggest achievements towards women empowerment in independent India.
The scheme was launched by Prime Minister India Narendra Modi on May 1, 2016, to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of BPL families.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Minister said, “LPG coverage has increased from 55% to 97.4%. The scheme has acted as one of the biggest catalyst of socio-economic change in the status of women in the country.”
The minister further said that household pollution has been a reason of health hazard, which has been curbed with the availability of safe and environment-friendly LPG fuel to poor women of the society.
“However, the mission is yet not complete. Behavioural change, further strengthening of supply chain, shift towards cleaner energy, are some of our key priorities. We are looking for innovative ways to increase refills, sustain adoption.” he added.
Pradhan said that Climate change is a worry for the world. “Energy is an important element of economic empowerment. We are working on to ensure energy justice for all Indians. Energy affordability, sustainability, efficiency, security. LPG should be the catalyst of socio-economic change,” he said.
A workshop has been organised, in connection with the ongoing international women’s day celebrations, in which number of PMUY beneficiaries participated and exchanged their experiences, as to how their lives have improved substantially after the adoption of gas ‘chulhas’ (stoves) in their homes.
