Lucknow, Aug 25, 2021: The Uttar Pradesh government will distribute around 20 lakh free gas connections to low-income families under the Ujjwala 2.0 scheme to help beneficiaries cook food using smoke-free fuels.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will start the distribution through a virtual event on Wednesday. He will also interact with the beneficiaries of the scheme.
The ’Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ (PMUY)’ flagship scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 1, 2016, in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. PM Modi launched Ujjwala 2.0 -- the second phase of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) -- on August 10 by handing over LPG connections in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh.
The scheme was launched with an aim to make clean cooking fuel, such as LPG, available to rural and deprived households which were using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal and cow-dung cakes.
The scheme also aims to provide clean cooking fuel to households that are vulnerable to various health hazards associated with indoor air pollution and to bring in qualitative changes in the living standards of BPL families.
The use of smoke-free fuels has been encouraged since the traditional methods have detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment.
Under the Ujjwala 2.0 scheme, migrant workers can avail a free cooking gas connection on the basis of a self-declaration without any documents like address proof. The scheme aims to provide deposit-free LPG connections to low-income families who were not covered under the first phase of PMUY.
In the first phase of the Ujjwala Yojana scheme, 1,47,43,862 LPG connections were made available to underprivileged families in Uttar Pradesh.
Families which were left out in the first phase of the Ujjwala scheme will be benefited in the second phase.
Courtesy:India Today