DBTL for LPG to be extended to 289 districts by Jan 1

After the success of the pilot programme in 20 districts, the scheme to pay domestic cooking gas (LPG) consumers cash subsidy will be extended to 289 districts in the country by January 1.
Under the scheme, Rs 435 is deposited in bank accounts of household LPG consumers in advance so as to help them purchase a 14.2-kg LPG cylinder at market price, which is more than double of Rs 410 per bottle rate in Delhi.
The moment the refill is bought, the subsidy prevalent on that day will be credited to Aadhaar-linked bank account of LPG consumer for another cylinder. In all, cash subsidy is provided for nine refills in a year under the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme.

An official statement said DBTL has been extended to 34 districts like West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, West Goa, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Kottayam in Kerala, Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh, Amravati in Maharashtra and Ludhiana in Punjab.
"Government has decided to extend the DBTL Scheme in 235 more districts by January 1, 2014 in phases depending on Aadhaar penetration. With this roll out, almost half the country, covering 289 districts, will get covered," it said.
The DBTL in 54 districts currently covers 21.9 million LPG consumers and as much as Rs 222 crore subsidy has been transferred through 5.3 million transactions into the bank accounts of the LPG consumers so far.

"In order to avail transfer of cash subsidy into the bank account, Aadhaar number of the LPG consumer has to be linked to the LPG consumer number and bank account for which a three months grace period from date of launch is being provided," the statement said.
A three month grace period has been given to get Aadhaar number and link it with their bank accounts. After the grace period, only consumers with Aadhaar number-linked bank accounts will get cash subsidy, it said.