LPG
Representative image.

At least 54.4 per cent of beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) have so far received free refill gas cylinders during lockdown, an official of Mizoram Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department said on Monday.

The department director Lalhriatzuali Ralte told Northeast Now that a total of 28,121 beneficiaries have been registered under the PMUY scheme in Mizoram and 15,304 of them got free gas cylinders till date.

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She said that advanced transfer has been initiated to 20,548 beneficiaries of which transaction was successfully made to 20,392 beneficiaries so far.

To help the poor during the coronavirus shut down, the Centre has promised three free gas cylinders under the Ujjwala scheme from April.

Over eight crore PMUY beneficiaries are eligible to get three free cylinders across the country over the next three months – April, May and June.

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Last week, union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan had urged all the stakeholders in the LPG cylinder supply chain to work diligently and in a systematic manner to speedily increase the delivery of free refills to the beneficiaries.

He had said in the first three weeks of April, only about 40 per cent beneficiaries have got free cylinders.

PMUY scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2016 to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of BPL families.