SAMBA: The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a government scheme launched in 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, envisages distribution of 50 million LPG connections to women below the poverty line. It was launched with a budget allocation of Rs 80 billion and nearly 22 million LPG connections were distributed in the first year of its launch.
On March 26, 2020 the Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman announced that free cylinders will be provided to the BPL (Below Poverty Line) families for the next three months under the Ujjwala scheme. This announcement was made to mitigate the loss caused by the Covid-19 outbreak in India.
In district Samba on the directions of District Development Commissioner, Rohit Khajuria, efforts have been made to reach out to BPL families under PMUY across the district. As many as 25076 beneficiaries enrolled under PMUY in district Samba, out of which HPCL has 16876 and IOC 8200 beneficiaries.
The district Nodal Officer, PMUY for Samba Farooq Shah said that two premier natural oil and Gas Companies HPCL and IOC are the executing agencies in the district. “3 free cylinders have been sanctioned for the month of April, MAY and June under the PMGKP recently announced by the Government of India” said DNO. It was informed that for the month of May and April amount Rs 2,71,97185 has been transferred in the accounts of PMUY beneficiaries in district samba. HPCL and IOC have transferred an amount of Rs 1,8856149 and Rs 8,341036 respectively. Further giving details, it was revealed that refill booking received by HPCL is 20945 and IOC is 9119 while refill cylinders delivered were 20855 by HPCL and 9112 by IOC for the month of April and May.

The Corporation’s LPG distributorships are well-stocked for the lockdown period and there is no shortage of LPG cylinders. Customers are advised not to panic, or resort to hoarding and panic-buying. LPG customers are therefore advised not to resort to panic-booking or visit the showrooms and godowns of their LPG distributorships for obtaining refills.

They can book for LPG refills through SMS/IVRS, Whatsapp ( IOC : 75888 88824, HP : 92222-01122),. Missed Call (BPC : 77109 55555) or online thru Umang app, HP Pay, PayTM, My HP Gas App , BBPS (for HPC) , IndianOilOne mobile app or https://cx.indianoil.in , @Paytm (For IOCL) and PayTm, PhonePay, Amazon, Bharat gas App (for BPC) for delivery of LPG refill cylinders at their doorsteps. Consumer can also book their cylinder by dialing IVRS number from their phones (HPC-9086023456,IOC-9086024365,BPC-7718012345), Refill booking number for district samba is 9086023456”, they said.

Local administration and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation limited are ensuring adherence to all the government norms regarding Covid-19 precaution besides also ensuring proper sanitization of cylinders.

KR Desk