Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan

NEW DELHI: Womenfolk in seven crore poor households no longer have to suffer smoky kitchens, thanks to the blistering pace at which the Narendra Modi government has rolled out its ‘Ujjwala’ scheme to provide free LPG connection to economically weaker families.

Some 82% of these beneficiary households are returning for a refill as the transformational energy programme takes root, deepening the Modi government’s political outreach among the poor sections of society.

Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan handed over Ujjwala connection to beneficiary number seven crore on Friday, achieving 87% of the revised target of covering eight crore poor households a year before the March 2020 deadline. “On International Women's Day, we have crossed the 7-crore connection mark. The scheme is running ahead of schedule. We have delivered what we promised. “Impossible is possible now,” Pradhan said pointing out the milestone has been achieved within 34 months of the scheme’s launch on May 1, 2016. Pradhan said 42% of the free Ujjwala connections have gone to SC/ST households and raised overall LPG coverage to 93% of population from 55% in 2014. He gave credit to executives of state-run fuel retailers IOC, HPCL and BPCL for delivering an average 69,000 connections a day, the key factor behind the scheme’s rapid expansion.

