Pahal scheme enables Rs 21,261 cr savings

Estimated savings due to blocking of duplicate, fake, and inactive domestic LPG connections through the "Pahal" scheme was Rs 21, 261 crore, an official statement said on Tuesday.

A Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry statement said the direct benefit transfer of LPG (DBTL), known as Pahal scheme, made it possible to block 3.34 crore connections.

"As a result of implementation of DBTL (Pahal) mechanism, it became possible to block these 3.34 crore LPG connections as the subsidy was transferred in the accounts of only those consumers who had registered under Pahal scheme and who have been cleared after de-duplication exercise," it said.

Before DBTL, all or many of these 3.34 crore consumers would have continued to purchase subsidised cylinders from the distributors.

If the DBTL had not been implemented, the outgo on the subsidy would have been higher by Rs. 14,818 crore in 2014-15 and Rs. 6,443 crore in 2015-16, the statement said.

The ministry also said with concrete evidence of successful elimination of bogus connections, non-subsidised commercial LPG sales registered an increase of 39.3 percent in 2015-16.

--IANS

bdc/vd