Cash payouts for kerosene subsidy?

Keen to roll out cash payouts for kerosene subsidy, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in allowing the city government to launch the ambitious scheme.

Keen to roll out cash payouts for kerosene subsidy, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in allowing the city government to launch the ambitious scheme.

HT Image

If allowed, Delhi will become the first city in the country to dole out cash payouts instead of subsidised kerosene to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.

The move is aimed at controlling widespread pilferage.

“The chief minister has written a letter to the Prime Minister in this regard,” sources said. As per the proposal put forth by Delhi Government, cash equivalent of the monthly kerosene subsidy will be directly transferred to the bank account of the female head of the family.

A task force headed by UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani, in its interim report earlier this month, had proposed direct transfer of subsidy for kerosene, LPG and fertilisers to intended beneficiaries.

A BPL family is likely to get around Rs 400 as monthly cash payouts instead of subsidised kerosene if the proposal originally mooted by the Planning Commission goes through.