Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
With the onset of Navratri, the Government of India has given bumper gift to the countrymen. Already before Diwali, Dussehra, the government announced a reform in GST to reduce the burden on the pocket of the common man, which has come into force from 22 September. Also, on the same day, the women of the country also gave a great gift. Yes, the Government of India has announced to provide new 25 lakh gas connections under the Ujjwala scheme.
The central government on Monday has approved the issuance of 25 lakh additional LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) during the current financial year (2025-26). This is a big announcement of the government after GST. While 99 percent of the everyday things have come in 5 per cent slab after the GST cut, on the other hand, more gas connections will be accessible to the families. So far, the total connections distributed under this scheme will be 10.58 crores.
When did the scheme start?
The main objective of this scheme launched in 2016 is to provide LPG connections to women from poor families without installation, first refill, hose, regulator and stove. The government and oil marketing companies (OMCs) spend its entire cost. In the first installment of PMUY, 8 crore connections were given. The second installment of the scheme was started in August 2021, for which different targets from 2022 to 2024 were set.
By July this year, this scheme has managed to provide more than 10.33 crore LPG connections across the country. In fact, in this August, the government approved the target subsidy of Rs 300 on every 14.2 kg cylinder and increased the eligible number of refill to 9 per year.
How many rupees will be spent
The government will spend Rs 676 crore to release these connections, with Rs 512.5 crore to provide deposit-free connection at the rate of Rs 2,050 per connection, Rs 160 crore for subsidy announced in August. Apart from this, Rs 3.5 crore will be spent for the management of the scheme for the rest of the necessary works.