LPG Prices, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: LPG At Just Rs 500 In This State, How To Apply For New Connection?

In a major good news for families in Haryana, its government has announced LPG prices to be as cheap as Rs 500. The announcement was made during the occasion of Teej, and a few months ahead of the state's poll. It is reported that approximately 46 lakh families will benefit. The beneficiaries should be registered at Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana 2.0 to avail themselves of the benefits.

On August 7, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Sain announced that LPG cylinders will be at Rs 500 in the state, and available to citizens whose income is less than Rs 1.8 lakh per annum and that they are registered with the Ujjwala Yojana scheme.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) is a flagship scheme to make clean cooking fuel such as LPG available to rural and deprived households which were otherwise using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes etc. Usage of traditional cooking fuels had detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment.

Recently, the government announced scheme 2.0 where an additional allocation of 1.6 Crore LPG Connections under the PMUY scheme with special facility to migrant households. The target number of connections under Ujjwala 2.0 was achieved during Dec'22, thus taking overall connections under the scheme to 9.6 Crore.

Also, the Indian government has approved the release of an additional 75 lakh connections under the PMUY Scheme, taking the overall target under the scheme to 10.35 Crore, against which connections are getting released now.

Eligibility for PMUY 2.0 is that -- applicable ( woman only) must have attained 18 years of age; there should not be any other LPG connection from any OMC in the same household.

Also, adult women belonging to any of the following categories - SC, ST, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin), Most Backward Classes (MBC), Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Tea and Ex-Tea Garden tribes, Forest Dwellers, People residing in Islands and River Islands, enlisted under SECC Households (AHL TIN) or any Poor Household as per 14-point declaration --- are eligible.

Documents required for the scheme are:

- Know Your Customer(KYC)

- The Aadhaar Card of the applicant as Proof of Identity and Proof of Address in case the applicant is residing at the same address as mentioned in the Aadhaar (not mandatory for Assam and Meghalaya).

- Ration Card issued by the State from which application is being made/ other State Govt. document certifying family composition/ Self-Declaration as per Annexure I (for migrant applicants)

- Aadhaar of the beneficiary and adult family members appearing in the document at Sl. 3.

- Bank Account Number and IFSC

- Supplementary KYC to support the status of the family.

How to apply for new connection under PMUY:

Applicants can apply both online and offline.

Online - Customers can enrol through an online application, or they can also contact their nearest CSC Centre to submit the online application.

Offline - Customers can enrol by directly applying for the distributorship.

The Haryana government's move also comes after LPG prices were revised by oil marketing companies with prices hiked in 19 kg LPG cylinders, effective from August 1, 2024.

Indian Oil while keeping the prices of 14.2 kg LPG cylinders did not see any change, however, prices were hiked by Rs 6.5 to Rs 8.5 in 19 kg cylinders.

From August 1, per cylinder of 19 kg is up by Rs 6.5 in Delhi, the lowest hike, to Rs 1,652.5 compared to the previous month's price of Rs 1,646. Meanwhile, the highest hike was Rs 8.5 per 19 kg cylinder in the city of Kolkata to Rs 1,764.5 compared to earlier Rs 1,756.

In the case of Mumbai, the price was hiked by Rs 7 per cylinder. 19Kg is now available at Rs 1,605 per cylinder in the financial hub compared to the previous month's Rs 1,598. Finally, the price of 19kg is increased by Rs 7.5 per cylinder to Rs 1,817 compared to the previous month's price of Rs 1,809.5.

Earlier, Indian Oil had trimmed 19kg per cylinder prices by Rs 30 to Rs 31 across cities in July 2024. Notably, in June, the OMC made one of the sharpest cuts in its Indane Gas to the tune of Rs 69 to Rs 72 in the four metro cities mentioned above.