New Delhi: Government will provide five crore LPG connections on a concessional rate to below poverty line (BPL) families over three years till 2018-19, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Monday.


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"Government will provide concession of Rs 1,600 to over five crore BPL families to get cooking gas connections in next three years. The finance minister has announced the scheme in his Budget speech," Pradhan told reporters here.


The minister also informed that average price of single cylinder LPG connection across all the states is Rs 3,400.


In his Budget speech Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "We have decided to embark upon on a massive mission to provide LPG connection in the name of women members of poor households. I have set aside a sum of Rs 2,000 crore in this year's Budget to meet the initial cost of providing these LPG connections."


He further said, "This will benefit about 1.50 crore households below the poverty line in 2016-17. The scheme will be continued for at least two more years to cover a total of five crore BPL households. This will ensure universal coverage of cooking gas."


Pradhan said we have been providing LPG connections to the BPL families on concessional rates from the fund collected through CSR initiatives.


Jaitley further said that the government would be requiring Rs 2,400 crore to provide cooking gas at concessional rate to 1.5 crore BPL families in 2016-17.


He said the government will provide these connection to 1.5 crore BPL households in 2017-18 and to 2 crore poor families in 2018-19.


The oil minister said the government has plans to provide an equal number of gas connections to non-BPL families over next three years while increasing availability of cooking gas in states like Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha.