Five crore Indians would be provided gas connections under the 'Ujjwala' scheme over the next three years, including 1.5 crore poor women who will get it free, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference at Ballia, he said that the scheme was being launched from the eastern Uttar Pradesh town on May 1 because Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will flag off the initiative, had directed his ministry to ensure that places where reach of cooking gas cylinders was less should be assimilated on priority.
Pradhan said that while the national average of households with gas connections stood at 61 percent, the figure for Uttar Pradesh was 53 percent.
Under the scheme, 1.5 crore women from the below poverty line (BPL) category would be given gas connections free of cost and Rs.2,000 crore has already been allocated for the purpose, he added.
--IANS
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