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PM Modi to launch free gas connection with refill and stove ahead of UP polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the second version of Ujjwala free cooking gas connection scheme along with “a free refill and a stove” on Tuesday from Mahoba district of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, replicating the success of its first version that had earned immense political goodwill for the BJP in the 2017 UP assembly polls, two people aware of the development said.
Under the Ujjwala 2.0, the Union government will distribute about 10 million gas connections this financial year to the poor along with a free refill and a stove, they said requesting anonymity. About five years ago, ahead of the crucial UP polls, PM Modi had launched the first version of the scheme (Ujjwala 1.0) in Ballia, a district in the state on May 1, 2016.
Ujjwala 2.0 is also expected to give a free refill worth over ₹800 and a free stove, one of them said. “Earlier under Ujjwala 1.0, only a deposit-free LPG connection was provided to the beneficiary amounting to a financial assistance of ₹1,600, where beneficiaries also had an option to take a loan at zero interest rate from the public sector oil marketing companies for the hot plate (stove) and the first refill,” the person added.
The intent of the scheme was announced in the Budget this year. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 announced extending the scheme to 10 million new beneficiaries in 2021-22. “Ujjwala Scheme which has benefited 80 million households will be extended to cover 0 million more beneficiaries,” she said in her budget speech.
Besides the free first refill and a stove along with a deposit-free gas connection, the scheme in its new form will have provision for online application. A migrant family can also get separate gas connections, the person said.
“Preference would be given to poor families belonging to the scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) and also for families residing in areas with lower LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] penetration than the national or state average,” he said.
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