Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Feb 4:Under the ambitious 'Mukhyamantri Anila Bhagya' scheme of Karnataka government, 27 lac poor families in the state are expected to get free LPG cylinders soon. This will rid them of the ordeal of having to go searching for firewood and inhale thick smoke when preparing food.
In the first phase, ten lac beneficiaries under this scheme have already been identified. Letters on behalf of the chief minister have already been dispatched to beneficiaries informing them of having been covered under the said scheme. In the next phase, the other eligible beneficiaries will also get LPG cylinders free of cost, it is gathered.
Beneficiaries are being picked jointly by labour department, social welfare department, and food and civil supplies department. The government has identified food and civil supplies departments as the nodal agency for implementing this scheme.
Under this scheme, initial cost of providing gas connection to individual houses, which works out to Rs 4,040, will be met by the government. The families will get a LPG stove, lighter, and LPG connection without having to pay anything. The families are eligible for two cylinders, one of which will be delivered when the connection is provided initially. The second will be supplied when getting refill for the first time. After the initial cylinders, the beneficiaries will have to foot the bill for subsequent cylinders they might book thereafter.
The departments have chosen the beneficiaries through an exercise of identifying them through ration cards. Preference has been given for those covered under 'Antyodaya' scheme and those who do not already have LPG cylinders, the government said. The other conditions for the selection are that the families should not have been the beneficiaries of the central government's 'Ujwala' scheme.
For more information about the scheme, additional director in food and civil supplies department, Arundhathi Chandrashekhar, may be contacted on cellphone No. 9448849503, a release stated.