Ten crore people join PAHAL; Modi expresses joy

Odisha Channel Bureau New Delhi, Feb 5: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today expressed his joy after PaHaL (Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh), the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for LPG Subsidy Yojana crossed registration mark of ten crores.“Gives me great joy to know that over 10 crore citizens have been registered as a part of the PAHAL Yojana.A momentous accomplishment.This makes PAHAL Yojana among the largest cash transfer schemes in the world.Congrats to beneficiaries and officials.petroleum.nic.in/dbt/index.php“PAHAL Yojana will bring an end to black-marketeering and subsidy will reach people more effectively.Its role in nation-building is important,” said Modi.According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, out of 15 crore active LPG consumers, over 10 crore LPG consumers have already joined the PaHaL scheme which was introduced in 54 Districts of the country on 15th November 2014 and in rest of the country on 1st January 2015.So far, an amount of Rs.4299 crore has been transferred after 15th November, 2014 via 11.33 crore transactions, according to the Ministry.“The success of the scheme is a result of an intensive Information Education Campaign comprising of advertising through various means and directly reaching out to consumers,” Ministry said.The Ministry has undertaken several innovative measures such as guardian officers for each district, deployment of technology by use of SMS, and a single window portal www.mylpg.in to enable consumers to join the scheme.This portal is an important step in ushering in transparency and in increasing consumer convenience.The progress of the scheme implementation is being monitored at the level of Minister of State (Independent Charge) Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.PaHaL will save subsidy by reducing the incentive to divert subsidised cylinders and also provides an easy exit route for those who do not want to avail subsidy on domestic gas cylinders, according to the Ministry.About the PAHAL (DBTL) SchemeConsumers will need a bank account to join the scheme and receive LPG subsidyConsumers will also get one time permanent advance in their bank account prior to buying the first market priced LPG cylinderConsumers will receive subsidy in their bank account as per their entitlement of subsidized cylindersTill consumers join the scheme they will get cylinders at: - Subsidized price for 3 months w.e.f 15.11.2014 till 14.02.2015- Market price for next 3 months, but the subsidy due will be given to them if they join the scheme within these 3 months i,e till 14.05.2015W.e.f 15.05.2015 all LPG consumers will get cylinders at market price and only those who join the scheme will receive one time permanent advance & subsidy from the date of joiningTo join the scheme and receive subsidy, consumers should use, Option 1 if they have Adhaar and Option 2 if they don’t have Aadhaar.