New Delhi: Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday that around 3.3 crores fake LPG connections have been blocked after Direct Benefit Transfer leading to saving of Rs 21,000 crore in subsidies.
“When we assumed office (in 2014), we had a system of misdirected subsidies, rich and upper middle class were entitled to LPG subsidies. There were many duplicate connections and the subsidised LPG was diverted to commercial and industrial segments,” said the minister.
He alleged that as a result poorest of the poor never had access to LPG.
In 2014, almost half of Indian households didn’t have LPG connections.
Mr Pradhan said the Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG was launched in 2014 wherein subsidy was directly paid into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. “This made the process transparent and plugged the subsidy leakages which was otherwise being misused through ghost accounts,” he said.
The minister said that the scheme is benefiting over 176 million consumers and over Rs 40,000 crore or $6.5 billion of subsidy has been transferred directly to the beneficiaries bank accounts in the last two years. “It has also resulted in estimated saving of over Rs 21,000 crore or $3.2 billion in two years to the government,” he said.
