JOIN USAfter a year of deliberations, the ambitious direct transfer of cash subsidy on cooking gas took off on Saturday in 18 districts across the country, including Tumkur.
Under this new initiative, the Rs 446 subsidy will be credited directly to bank accounts of the consumers.
In Tumkur, 60 per cent of the district’s 2.57 lakh LPG consumers have Aadhaar numbers linked to their bank accounts. All Aadhaar-linked domestic LPG consumers will get an advance in their bank accounts as soon as they book the first subsidised cylinder.
As soon as the cylinder is delivered, the next subsidy will get credited to their bank accounts, which will be available for the purchase of the next subsidised cylinder at market rate. The Centre on Friday midnight credited Rs 1.70 crore to the consumers’ bank accounts.
“The money will be deposited to the subscribers in advance, before they purchase their first cylinder under the scheme. Each cylinder will be given a subsidy of Rs 446, till they exhaust the cap of nine cylinders a year,” said Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Veerappa Moily, while launching the scheme.
The DBT is expected to weed out all “ghost LPG connections” and diversion of cylinders, besides ensuring that the money is transferred to the intended beneficiary, thereby plugging leakages in the subsidy delivery system.
Moily said the scheme will be launched in Mysore next week.
The launch in Mysore was postponed due to the model code of conduct in place for the Periyapatna Assembly polls till May 28.
Around 14 crore LPG subscribers are likely to be brought under the fold of DBT in the coming years.
Moily said: “The Petroleum Ministry alone was spending close to Rs 1.61 lakh crore by way of subsidies to citizens in regulating diesel and LPG. With the new cap of nine LPG cylinders per household, the Centre is spending close to Rs 86,196 crore by way of subsidy.”
Moily also lauded the present 60 per cent Aadhaar enrolment among LPG subscribers.
“Soon, the coverage will be extended to 75 per cent across the nation with regard to the LPG subscription and extended to 51 districts,” he added.
In other states, the DBT scheme for LPG subsidy was flagged off in the presence of respective chief ministers and officials.