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DBTL helped save Rs 216.72 billion of LPG subsidy
Pradhan outlines four-point identification programme for Ujjwala beneficiaries. The government saved more than Rs 216.72 billion of LPG subsidy outgo in the past two financial years (2014-15 and 2015-16) thanks to the implementation of the Direct Benefit Transfer in LPG (DBTL) scheme that eliminated ghost or duplicate connections. The scheme, under which cooking gas subsidy is transferred directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries to cut down leakages, was rolled out beginning November 2014. “If DBTL was not there, the government would have had to spend around Rs 150 billion more in 2014-15,” petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a seminar on energy subsidies here.
Oil ministry’s Joint Secretary Ashutosh Jindal, who was also present on the occasion, said the savings accruing as a result of DBTL stood at around Rs 70 billion last fiscal, lower than the gains of Rs 146.72 billion in previous financial year, due to the slump in crude oil prices. India had 181.9 million registered LPG consumers as on 1 April 2015 including 148.5 million active consumers implying a gap of 33.4 million duplicate, fake or inactive consumers, according to the oil ministry. Eliminating these unclaimed 33.4 million consumers helped save Rs 146.72 billion in 2014-15, Pradhan said. DeMario Davis Authentic Jersey
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