Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday
sanctioned additional one lakh liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
connections to families living below the poverty line (BPL)
under the Deepam scheme.
The government had in August last sanctioned three lakh
LPG connections to BPL families and thus has given four lakh
connections during the current financial year under the
Deepam scheme, officials said.
According to an order issued by Civil Supplies
Commissioner Harpreet Singh today, 21 districts in the state
have been allotted 3,000 connections each, Medak district got
7,000 and West Godavari 5,000 connections.
Of the one lakh new connections, 25,000 have been kept as
reserved for distribution in future based on demand.
The state government has allotted 37.36 lakh LPG
connections under Deepam scheme to the (BPL) beneficiaries
since 1999.
Under the scheme, the state government pays deposit for
cylinder and regulator to the Oil Marketing Companies while
the beneficiaries have to bear the refill price.
There are about 200 lakh families in the state of which
147 lakh (both general and Deepam beneficiaries) now have LPG
connections.
The state government had requested the union government
to allot 24 lakh LPG connections (eight lakh per year) to the
BPL families in the state over the next three years but the
Oil Marketing Companies agreed to make arrangements for
release of only one lakh more LPG connections during the year
2011-12, official sources said.
PTI
