PMUY may cross 20-mn mark this financial year

Spending on LPG scheme has shot up by Rs500 cr in the Revised Estimates from the budgeted Rs2,000 cr

Clean energy seems to be the buzzword for Dharmendra Pradhan’s ministry of petroleum. Its flagship social sector programme, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), has not only surpassed the current financial year’s target of 15 million connections but is likely to touch 20 million by the end of next month (the close of 2016-17). 

In the current year, spending on PMUY, under which cooking gas connections are given to poor households, has shot up by Rs 500 crore in the Revised Estimates from the budgeted Rs 2,000 crore. The subsidy outgo on this account is expected to be Rs 2,500 crore in