Direct benefit transfer for LPG in Maharashtra

Another 30 districts of Maharashtra will be covered under the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG scheme by the year-end, an official announcement said here Wednesday.

With this, 32 of the state's 35 districts will be covered under Direct Benefit Transfer for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (DBTL), depending on the penetration of the Aadhaar project.

At present, only two districts in eastern Maharashtra -- Wardha since June this year and Amravati from September -- are covered by DBTL.

From Oct 1, seven more districts - Thane, Ratnagiri, Sangli, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nagpur and Gondia - will be brought under the DBTL.

This will be followed by Pune, Satara, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Nashik, Jalna, Aurangabad, Latur, Akola, Bhandara and Chandrapur in November this year.

Three other districts - Kolhapur, Osmanabad and Buldhana - will be brought under DBTL in December, followed by Mumbai, Raigad, Solapur, Beed, Nanded, Washim, Hingoli, Yavatmal and Gadchiroli by Jan 1, 2014.

Under the DBTL scheme, cash subsidy is transferred for LPG cylinders directly into the bank accounts of consumers, while the sale happens at the market price.

However, in order to avail the transfer of cash subsidy into the bank account, the Aadhaar number of the LPG consumer must be linked to the LPG consumer number and bank account number, for which a three-month grace period from the date of launch is available.

During the grace period, all consumers continue to get LPG cylinders at subsidized rate. After the grace period is over, all LPG consumers have to pay for the cylinders at market rate, as linkage via Aadhaar number is required for the transfer of cash subsidy.

Thus, only those who have linked their Aadhaar numbers to both their bank account and LPG consumer number will be able to receive cash subsidy in their bank accounts.

After the grace period is over, consumers will receive cash subsidy as and when they link their Aadhaar numbers for the balance entitlement.