Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the token budgetary allocation for Ujjwala Yojana that began in May 2016 was due to the programme having saturated its targetted list of beneficiaries.
The FM, who was on a visit to Odisha for post-Budget interaction, said unlike the 2022-23 fiscal when ₹8,010 crore was allocated to the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connection to poor households, the amount was ₹0.01 crore in the 2023-24 budget as the centre has given gas connections under Ujjwala to almost all the targetted beneficiaries.
“Since no new beneficiaries are to be given, so no budgetary provision has been made. However, a token provision was made so that when the ministry expands the scheme to new beneficiaries then money will be made available,” she said.
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Till February 2, more than 9.58 crore gas connections were released under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) that began in May 2016.
{{/usCountry}}Till February 2, more than 9.58 crore gas connections were released under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) that began in May 2016.
{{/usCountry}}The scheme aimed to make clean cooking fuel, such as LPG, accessible to rural households, which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, and cow-dung cakes.
The initial target was eight crore LPG connections to poor households by March 2020 which was met on September 7, 2019, according to government data. In 2021, the government launched PMUY 2.0 to cover an additional one crore of households with a special focus on migrant households. The target was achieved in January 2022.
Responding to a question as to whether the scheme is not able to match its initial success with 9.6% of the beneficiaries taking no refills, 11.3% taking only one refill and 56.5% taking four or fewer refills in 2021-22, Sitharaman said the success of the scheme should be seen in the context of everybody who were eligible for it, have received it.
“Prices go up as natural gas is an imported item. So to soften the burden we gave a subsidy of ₹200 subsidy per 14.2 kg cylinder for PMUY beneficiaries, for up to 12 refills a year,” she said.
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When PMUY was launched in May 2016, the price of a non-subsidised 14.2 kg LPG cylinder in Delhi was ₹527.5. It doubled to ₹1,053 in July 2022 and has remained unchanged.
Sitharaman also denied allegations that there is any reduction in MGNREGA fund allocation in the 2023-24 Budget. “It is a demand-driven programme. The provision will go up as and when the demand grows. The government also wants to ensure that the fund is well spent,” she said.
The FM further said that the goods and taxes (GST) compensation regime has been extended till 2026. The centre is also repaying the loans availed during the Covid-19 pandemic to distribute among the states. The states will not be affected as the GST revenue has also gone up post-pandemic,