MANGALURU: Ramesh Jigajinagi Union minister of state for drinking water and sanitation, said the central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will always further the cause of BPL families by ensuring that LPG reaches all people, so that kitchens across the country are free from smoke pollution.He was addressing a mass convention of the Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries and distribution of LPG connections to beneficiaries under the Extended Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana 2 (EPMUY2) at BC Road in Bantwal on Friday. The ministry of petroleum and natural gas introduced the PMUY for which the budgetary provision of Rs 12,800 crore has been provided for the distribution of five crore LPG connections to women members of BPL households by March 2019, and additional three crore connections by March 2020. The industry has crossed the five crore mark in August 2018, which was eight months ahead of schedule, he said.“PMUY is a revolution which has removed smoke from the kitchens of the poor households in the country, by providing them accessibility to clean cooking fuel, and making it one of the largest social inclusion initiatives ever. Last year, the PMUY coverage was enhanced and seven new categories were added. In order to give a universal reach of clean cooking LPG in the country, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently has given a latest decision to release deposit-free LPG connections to poor families, who were not in the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) list or those not under seven categories of EPMUY,” he said.Prahlad V Joshi, chairman, Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas, highlighting the impact of the scheme in Karnataka, advised stakeholders to put all efforts to make Karnataka the first kerosene-free state in the country. A total 6.07 crore connections are released by oil companies on an all-India basis under the scheme, and more than 19 lakh connections are released in Karnataka. The national LPG coverage, which was less than 62% as on April 1, 2016, has improved to 89.5% as on April 24, 2019 and in Karnataka, it rose from 68.4% in 2014 to 98% till date, he said.Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said while Belthangady taluk will be smoke-free within 10 days, the entire district will achieve the goal within a month.