Focus on rural, tribal areas under PMUY 3.0 in Assam: Officials

Guwahati, Dec 12 (PTI) Rural and tribal-dominated areas with low LPG penetration will be the focus points in Assam under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) 3.0, being rolled out across the country, a top IndianOil official said here on Friday.

With a section of people still preferring traditional means such as firewood for cooking purposes, awareness on health hazards of such means will be highlighted, they said.

"The North East is a focus area for the Centre under the PMUY 3.0. A total of 25 lakh additional free LPG connections have been approved for the country. Of these, five lakh are for the region, including 2.5 lakh for Assam," Rajesh Nambiar, Executive Director and State Head, IndianOil Assam Oil Division (AOD) state office, said at a press conference.

He emphasised that LPG penetration was much low when the PMUY was first launched in 2016, with the coverage now crossing 100 per cent in many places, including in the state.

Amar Jyoti Bordoloi, CGM LPG, IndianOil AOD state office, added that the penetration is still less in rural and tribal areas, and PMUY 3.0 will be focusing on reaching those parts.

"In these areas, people still prefer traditional means like firewood. Creating awareness in those areas is crucial," he said.

The state government will be playing an important role in awareness generation, Hemanta Bhuyan, commissioner, Food and Public Distribution, Consumer Affairs and Legal Metrology, government of Assam, also present in the press conference, said.

"We will be engaging in more publicity in the areas where coverage is low. Special camps will be held," he said.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG) introduced the PMUY as a flagship scheme in May 2016, with an objective to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to the rural and deprived households which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes, etc.

Sharing details of PMUY coverage in the state, Bordoloi said the total domestic LPG connections are 92.24 lakh with a coverage of 115.8 per cent, out of which about 52 lakh connections are under the free connection scheme.

While most districts have high penetrations, some still have low coverage – Sivasagar 65.7 per cent, Baksa 67.1 per cent, Dhemaji 73.2 per cent, South Salmara 84 per cent and Tinsukia 85 per cent.

The official maintained that there are diverse reasons for low penetration.

A district like Sivasagar has piped gas connections in a large area, which leads to lower LPG coverage, Bordoloi said.

"But there are other areas where awareness is the key, and the focus will be kept on it," he added. PTI SSG SSG RG