Mumbai, May 28 (DC): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). The interaction came as the BJP-led government completed fours years at the Centre.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has been touted as one of the most successful flagship schemes of the Modi government.

During his interaction, PM Modi said that the Ujjwala Yojana has positively impacted the lives of several people across the country.

“Ujjwala Yojana has strengthened the lives of the poor, marginalised, Dalits, Tribal communities. This initiative is playing a central role in social empowerment,” he said.

The Prime Minister further said, “Till 2014, 13 crore families got LPG connection. This means, for over six decades the figure stood at 13 crore. It was mostly the rich people who got LPG connections. In the last 4 years, 10 crore new connections have been added and the poor benefited.”

Narrating an anecdote, Prime Minister Modi said, “When I was young and my mother would be cooking, we remember the smoke. I also remember the pains she took so that us, her little children to inhale the smoke.”

During the interaction, Suchsmita Kabata from Mayurbhanj in Odisha spoke about how Ujjwala has transformed her life. She said that due to Ujjwala Yojana she cooks faster and spend more time with her children. She also said now her children do not go hungry during monsoons and she can cook new things.

One of the women from Chhattisgarh group told PM Modi that she got her connection in 2016 and she feels that it has enhanced the quality of life for her entire family. She added that her children are particularly happy.

While interacting with a group of women from Anantnag, Prime Minister Modi said, “When I was young, I had many Muslim neighbours. Many of my friends were Muslims. I remember during Ramzan, women woke up particularly early but the coming of the Ujjwala Yojana would have changed that too.”

Arjuman, a woman from the Anantnag group, told the PM that Ujjwala Yojana gave them more time to pursue other things like stitching. “During Ramzan in particular life has become easier thanks to Ujjwala Yojana,” she added.

“This is the month of Ramzan. We read the Holy Quran daily. We are going to pray daily for you and we hope that you continue to serve us as the Prime Minister,” group of women from Anantnag told PM Modi.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is one of the various welfare schemes implemented by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government in key areas such as financial inclusion, affordable housing, cooking fuel, rural electrification and transportation connectivity during the last four years.

Launched by the Prime Minister on May 1, 2016 in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia, the PMUY aims to safeguard the health of women and children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

Ensuring women's empowerment, especially in rural India, the connections are issued in the name of women of the households.

Rs 8000 crore has been allocated towards the implementation of the scheme.

Earlier this year, the Centre had revised its target to provide LPG connections to eight crore from five crore. Nearly four crore (3,98,77,723) connections have been given under the scheme so far, about 80 lakh of them in the past five months.