Question : LPG Panchayat

(a) whether the Government has organised LPG Panchayat in Delhi recently and if so, the details thereof along with the number of women participants participated in the event;
(b) the aims and objectives of organising such LPG Panchayat;
(c) whether the Government has set any target to conduct such type of Panchayats in different parts of the country and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government has made/put in place any mechanism to provide the benefit of Ujjwala Yojana to genuine persons and if so, the details thereof;
(e) whether the Government has expanded/proposes to expand the scope of Ujjwala scheme and if so, the details thereof and the number of poor women who have been benefitted under Ujjwala Yojana so far, State/UT-wise; and
(f) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government for strengthening women’s empowerment through Ujjwala Yojana?

MINISTER OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat(PMLP) was organised in Rashtrapati Bhawan on 13th February, 2018 and more than 100 women beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY) participated in the event.
(b) & (c) PMLP is an interactive communication platform for rural LPG users on various subjects like safe usage of LPG, its benefit to environment, women empowerment and women health. The forum is also a platform to motivate the consumers to use LPG as a clean cooking fuel on a sustained basis. PMLP covers all States/UTs.
(d) Under PMUY, the households belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category identified through Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011, are eligible to get a connection, subject to the condition that no LPG connection already exists in the name of any family member of the household and after carrying out de-duplication process.
(e) Under PMUY, the Government has enhanced the target to release LPG connections from 5 crore to 8 crore with additional budgetary provision of Rs. 4,800 crore over and above the existing provision of 8000 crore. The list of prospective beneficiaries under PMUY has been expanded recently. State/UT-wise details of LPG connections released under PMUY as on 07.03.2018 are at Annexure.
(f) Connection is released in the name of adult woman of a BPL family. LPG subsidy under PAHAL Scheme is transferred directly into the bank account of PMUY women beneficiaries.