Vice President Venkiah Naidu hands over 6th crore gas connection under Ujjwala Yojna

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu handed over the sixth crore gas connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY) on Wednesday, ahead of its schedule.

Speaking after handing over the connections to several beneficiaries of Ujjwala Yojana at a function organized by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the Vice-President termed it as a 'momentous occasion' that celebrates clean cooking fuel reaching six crore homes', read a press statement.

The scheme was launched in the year 2016 with the target to give 5 crore connections by March 2019 but the target was met well before time.

"Industry has crossed 5 Crore mark during August 2018 which was 8 months ahead of schedule," said a statement by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural gas.

From its commencement till January 1, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) released more than 1.6 crore LPG connections and Industry released more than 6 crore LPG connections on all India basis under the scheme. Further, national LPG coverage which was less than 62% in 2016 has improved to 89.5% as on December 1, 2018.

"90.7 % of PMUY beneficiaries in the state have a comeback for a refill of LPG cylinder after the connection released and the average per capita consumption is 120.7," the press statement informed further.

In the national capital, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) released 21,533, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited released 16,506 which amounts to a total of 63, 928 number of beneficiaries have been provided with LPG connection under the scheme till January 1 this year, the statement read.