PANAJI
More than a year after the 2022 assembly elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finally inked the scheme to deliver one of its most populist poll promise -- three gas cylinders per household.
According to the scheme notified by the Civil Supplies department earlier this week, only the below poverty line (BPL) families, that is households with the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration card, will be eligible.
The scheme stipulates that the head of the household with the AAY ration card, will get Rs 275 directly transferred to his/her bank account every month.
The scheme is christened the 'Chief Minister LPG Gas Cylinder Scheme' states the notification issued by the Civil Supplies Director, Gopal Parsekar.
Over the last two to three years, prices of the domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders used by practically every family for household cooking have skyrocketed. Currently, a domestic LPG cylinder costs over eleven hundred rupees, burdensome amid rising inflation for an average middle class household even.
The State government believes that this "Mukhyamantri LPG Gas Cylinder Yojana" under the Antyodaya Food Yojana, by paying Rs 275 every month to every family under the poverty line, will alleviate to some extent the high cost of living.
It works out to Rs 3,300 per year, equivalent to the cost of three LPG cylinder refills.
The scheme specifies that the amount will be deposited monthly in the official bank account of the head of the 'AAY' ration card holding family and will be in force for the next one year.
Currently, Goa has approximately 11,550 families holding the 'AAY' ration card. The scheme will therefore cost the State exchequer Rs 31.76 lakhs monthly or nearly Rs 4 crore annually.
In the run up to the February 2022 election, the ruling BJP had flaunted the poll promise but dithered in implementing it after storming back to power and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant returned as head of the government.
After much trolling in the months after taking charge over non-fulfillment of this poll promise, Sawant then announced that it would be implemented only for economically weaker sections and it has now finally announced the scheme formally.
