PremiumPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched second phase of the nationwide Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), or Ujjwala 2.0. During the event, Modi also said the government has fixed a target of providing piped gas to 21 lakh homes in 50 districts.
PM virtually handed out free LPG connections to some beneficiaries in Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections are scheduled early next year.
He said, "As we celebrate the 75th year of Independence this year and look at the progress in the past seven-and-a-half decades, we feel that some situations and conditions should have changed decades ago."
"For many fundamental needs such as roads, power, hospitals, cooking gas, schools, water and homes, the people of the country had to wait for decades. This is unfortunate and women suffered the most due to this," the prime minister said.
“When a family or a society struggles for the basic facilities, how can it fulfil its big dreams?" he said.
Modi said when his government took charge in 2014, it became clear that a solution to such issues had to be found within a stipulated time. Only then could women leave their homes and the kitchens to contribute to nation-building.
“So in the last six years, we worked on mission mode for solutions to all such problems," the PM said in his televised address.
In the first phase of the PMUY, eight crore poor families were given free cooking gas connections. Talking about it, the PM said, "We saw how much this helped during the Covid-19 pandemic. When there was no movement and businesses were closed, crores of poor families were given free gas cylinders for many months."
LPG infrastructure has expanded manifold in the country due to the Ujjwala scheme, the prime minister said, adding, "In the last six years, more than 11,000 new LPG distribution centres have opened across the country. Uttar Pradesh alone had less than 2,000 distribution centres in 2014. In UP now, there are 4,000 such centres giving employment to thousands of youths."
The LPG gas coverage in India is now “very close" to becoming 100 per cent, he said, claiming that more connections have been given in the last seven years than the total up to 2014.
1.5 cr families in UP benefitted from Ujjawla Yojana’s first phase: Yogi
Meanwhile, addressing a gathering at the launch of the Ujjwala 2.0 (PMUY, 2021) scheme at Mahoba district, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said 1.5 crore families in the state benefitted from first phase of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.
"Six years ago, the prime minister launched the first phase of Ujjwala Yojana from Ballia district in eastern UP. In the first phase of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), 1.5 crore families in Uttar Pradesh availed the benefit of the scheme," he said.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, free cylinders were made available for six months. This gas connection has ushered in a change in the lives of the women, and their health has improved," he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
