Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to be launched in Odisha today

Bhubaneshwar: Launch of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to provide free of cost LPG cooking gas connections to women from BPL households will be held in Sambalpur, Odisha on Monday.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan are scheduled to flag it off.

According to reports, through this scheme, it is planned to increase the number of LPG customers in Odisha from 39 lakh at present to 80 lakh by December 2018.

The scheme has already been launched regionally by the Centre in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Under the scheme, the central government is providing a financial assistance of 1,600 rupees to each eligible BPL candidate to buy an LPG connection.

A total budget of 8,000 crore rupees has been set by the government for the distribution of LPG connections to 5 crore BPL families by 2019.