Govt to give LPG subsidy in cash to beneficiaries

The government is planning to start transferring the subsidy for cooking gas in cash under the direct benefit transfer scheme, finance minister P Chidambaram said today.

The government is planning to start transferring the subsidy for cooking gas in cash under the direct benefit transfer scheme, finance minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday.

HT Image

Addressing a media conference in New Delhi, Chidambaram said he would soon meet petroleum minister Veerappa Moily and sort out the issues related to the direct cash transfer for liquified petroleum gas (LPG).

“We want to quickly move the LPG subsidy to direct benefit transfer scheme. The decision will be taken in a next few days when Moily and I meet,” he said.

Chidambaram said the beneficiaries might be given subsidy for one cylinder in advance. But he clarified that the details had not been worked out yet.

“Money will be directly given to the consumer once we have a record that he has bought a cylinder. It is possible that we may give him an advance on one cylinder so that he does not have bear it out of his pocket,” he said.

The finance minister admitted that there were some problems and complaints related to the direct benefit transfer scheme which was launched at the beginning of this year.

However, he claimed that the things were improving and minor glitches would not deter the government from going ahead with the “revolutionary” scheme.

He said the direct benefit transfer benefit scheme would be introduced across the country by the end of the current financial year. The scheme has been introduced so far in 121 districts.