New Delhi: Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Wednesday announced that the price of gas cylinders under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala scheme will be slashed by Rs 50. The cylinders will now be available at Rs 450 instead of Rs 500.
While making the announcement, he said the move aligns with the BJP's promise made before the recently concluded state elections.
Addressing a rally in Tonk earlier in the day, CM Sharma said, “Resonating with PM Narendra Modi’s guarantee and our (BJP) manifesto, today I announce that starting 1st January 2024, subsidised gas cylinders under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana will be available for Rs 450 for the beneficiaries.”
It is to be noted that in its election manifesto, the BJP had promised a subsidy of Rs 450 per LPG cylinder and 2.5 lakh government jobs if voted to power in the desert state.
The Congress went a step ahead promising in its poll manifesto that if voted to power, it would slash the price of LPG cylinders to Rs 400.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi said that after the ‘Viksit Bharat Yatra’, 4.5 lakh new applications have been received for Ujjwala Gas connection. Over 1 crore Ayushmaan cards have been distributed to the people of the country, and health check-ups of around 1.25 crore people have been done.
Notably, the ‘Ujjwala Yojana’ was launched with an aim to provide LPG connections to women belonging to households that fall below the poverty line.
Funded and supported by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the scheme also aims to reduce the exposure of rural women to charcoal fire or other fossil fuels used for cooking, thereby, also limiting health risks. According to government data, 99,998, 939 LPG connections have been released till December 25 this year.