Govt Raises LPG Subsidy For Ujjwala Yojana Beneficiaries To Rs 300 Per Cylinder

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday that the central government has hiked LPG subsidy for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries by Rs 100 from the current Rs 200 to Rs 300 per cylinder.

Ujjwala beneficiaries currently pay Rs 703 per 14.2-kg cylinder as against the market price of Rs 903. After the decision of the Union Cabinet, they will now pay Rs 603.

In September, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave the nod to providing an additional 75 lakh LPG connections to women under the flagship scheme.

The minister said that the additional LPG connections that will be provided in the course of the upcoming three years will come with a financial implication of Rs 1650 crore.

As per the current modalities of Ujjawala 2.0, the initial refill and stove will also be provided for free to beneficiaries.

'Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana' (PMUY) is a flagship scheme that was introduced in May 2016 to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to rural and deprived households that were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes etc.

Ujjwala beneficiaries currently pay Rs 703 per 14.2-kg cylinder compared to the market price of Rs 903. With this decision, the cost of a 14.2 kg cylinder for Ujjwala beneficiaries will come down from Rs 703 to Rs 603.

To mitigate the impact of domestic consumer inflation, the government had in August reduced the price of 14.2 kilograms LPG cooking gas cylinder by Rs 200.
In September, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave the nod to providing an additional 75 lakh LPG connections to women over three years from the financial year 2023-24 to 2025-26. The 75 lakh additional Ujjwala connections will take total number of PMUY beneficiaries to 10.35 crore.

The decision to raise the subsidy for Ujjawala beneficiaries to Rs 300 has come ahead of assembly elections in five states. The states that will go to polls by the end of this year include Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.