The Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Dr. M. Veerappa Moily informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that as on 01.11.2012, the three public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), namely, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporatiion Limited (HPCL) are having 419.22 lakh Rural domestic LPG Customers in the country this is approximately 25.2% of the total rural households in the country.

The Government has formulated the “Vision-2015” for LPG sector to raise the country’s LPG population coverage to 75% by releaseing 5.5 crore new LPG connections between 2009 and 2015, especially in rural areas.  For this purpose special scheme namely, “Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitaran Yojana” (RGGLV) for establishing small-size LPG distribution agencies was launched on 16.10.2009. Advertisements inviting applications for distributorships under the scheme have been released by OMCs covering 5261 locations, out of which 1591 distributors have been commissioned. As on 01.11.2012, OMCs have enrolled 21.31 Lakh domestic LPG Customers through these RGGLV distributorships in the country. During the next 3 years OMCs are expecting to set-up additional 3760 RGGLVs.  The State/UT-wise details of the RGGLVs set up and those proposed to be set up during the next three years under the RGGLV by OMCs are given at annexure.

The direct transfer of cash subsidy into the account of the beneficiary reduces the incentive of diversion of subsidized LPG cylinder for non-domestic purposes due to price differential.

 “A scheme for Direct Transfer of Subsidy to LPG consumers in their Bank Account, based on delivery of LPG cylinders, is under consideration of Government, “the Minister. In this regard a Pilot Project for transfer of cash subsidy on LPG cylinder directly to the bank account of the customer has already been launched in Mysore using Adhar number and a token transfer of money for 10 customers has also been made to test the cash transfer mechanism.

The State/UT-wise details of the RGGLVs set up and those proposed to be set up during the next three years under the RGGLV by OMCs

RCJ/RKS