Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday met Union Minister of Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan and sought to direct oil marketing companies to release additional LPG connections for Mukhyamantri Anila Bhagya Yojane which is complementary to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna, implemented by Government of India.

Mukhyamantri Anila Bhagya Yojane (MMABY) aimed at universalising the LPG usage and cove the families who can’t be covered under PMUY. In MMABY the beneficiary family is provided with gas connection, gas stove and two refills free of cost. It is proposed to cover nearly 30 lakh beneficiaries under this scheme over 18-24 months. Though the scheme was launched in February 2018, MMABY couldn’t be operationalised due to State Assembly Elections. Recently when a stakeholders meeting was convened in this regard, the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) had agreed to release 1 lakh connections each in the months of September and October this year and treat the beneficiaries similar to any other applicant with only difference being that the payment for security deposit and refills will be done by State Government on behalf of beneficiaries.

Further, OMCs had informed that they need to ramp up their resources in terms of availability of Gas cylinders, regulators, suraksha tube etc to release more than 50000 MMABY connections every month. In order to realise the goal of Kerosene free Karnataka, the connection release capacity for MMABY should be increased to 1.5 -2 lakh connections per month along with the provision to pay the security deposit on behalf of the beneficiaries to the distributors. Hence Chief Minister appealed to Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to give necessary directions to the Oil Marketing Companies in this regard.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan assured that he will examine the matter and consider it favourably.