Delhi and Mumbai LPG buyers to get cash subsidy from today

Domestic cooking gas consumers in Delhi and Mumbai from Wednesday will get cash subsidy for buying cooking gas refils as the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme will be extended to 105 more districts.

Under the scheme, which till now has been rolled out in 184 districts in 18 states, cooking gas consumers will get Rs 435 advance money in their bank accounts so as to help them purchase a 14.2-kg LPG cylinder at market price.

Currently, the subsidised LPG cylinder costs Rs 414 while the market price per bottle comes to Rs 1,021.

The moment the refill is bought, the subsidy prevalent on that day will be credited to Aadhaar-linked bank account of LPG consumer for another cylinder. In all, cash subsidy is provided for nine refills in a year under the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme.

Official sources said in the last phase of DBTL rollout from today, 105 districts including nine in Delhi, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Gurgaon in Haryana, Belgaum in Karnataka, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Murshidabad in West Bengal would be covered.

So far, 40 million cash transfers to consumer’s bank accounts have taken place since the launch of the scheme in June this year. Over Rs 2,000 crore have been transfered in 184 districts in 18 states providing direct benefits in hands of the consumers.

The scheme was launched in 20 districts on June 1 and was extended to 34 more on September 1. Only those consumers in these 54 districts who have their LPG consumer number and bank account with Aadhaar number get the cash subsidy, they said.

The DBTL scheme currently covers 66 million consumers in in 184 high Aadhaar coverage districts.

With the rollout , almost half the country, covering 289 districts, will get covered by the scheme that is aimed at curbing leakages and preventing black-marketing, sources said.

All Aadhaar-linked domestic LPG consumers get an advance in their bank account as soon as they book their first subsidised cylinder. No sooner do they take delivery of the first cylinder, the next subsidy gets transferred in their bank account, which is available for purchase of next subsidised cylinder at market rate.

“In order to avail transfer of cash subsidy into the bank account, Aadhaar number of the LPG consumer has to be linked to the LPG consumer number and bank account for which a three months grace period from date of launch is being provided,” a source said.

A three month grace period has been given to get Aadhaar number and link it with their bank accounts. After the grace period, only consumers with Aadhaar number-linked bank accounts will get cash subsidy.

Sources said the three-month grace period has expired in Phase-1 and II districts and subsidy is being transferred only to accounts linked to Aadhaar numbers.