Empty gas cylinders at scrapyard prompt Congress attacks on Centre's Ujjwala scheme

Visuals of empty LPG cylinders at a scrapyard in Madhya Pradesh prompted Congress to attack the Modi government's Ujjwala scheme, with the Opposition saying that people had sold off the cylinders because of the surge in prices.

MP Congress chief and former CM Kamal Nath tweeted a video clip of empty gas cylinders dumped at a scrapyard in the state's Bhind district.

"In Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, the gas cylinders and stoves of the Modi government's most publicized Ujjwala scheme are being sold in a pile of straw. This situation is of the state where the Home Minister of the country had started the second phase of the Ujjwala scheme in Jabalpur," Nath wrote.

Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries told NDTV that they had stopped refiling the cylinders due to a steep rise in fuel prices.

"We are daily wage labourers. I have four children. We are short of money on days I don't get work. How can we get LPG cylinders refilled? We stopped getting them refilled after prices crossed the Rs 600 mark," a labourer told the publication.

A gas agency employee in the district reportedly said that the scheme's beneficiaries book the cylinder for a refill but people don't receive them citing high prices.

Avdhesh Pandey, supply officer for Bhind district, claimed he is not aware of empty cylinders being sold to scrap dealers and that the issue needs to be investigated. "Under the Ujjwala Yojana now, beneficiaries get the gas connection, stove and the first refill for free. We cannot provide further refilling for free," he told the publication.

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