Bahanaga: Poor women in Orissa villages have stopped using LPG cooking gas given to them under the Centre’s much-vaunted Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) courtesy a sharp rise in the cost of LPG cylinders over recent months.
The scheme was touted as providing a safeguard to poor women in rural areas who struggled to cook food in smoky kitchens that posed hazards to their health and hygiene. However, after they received the highly-subsidised LPG connections, they find it impossible to afford gas refills due to the spurt in the price of cylinders.
The scheme has now become a bane for these women who have abandoned their gas stoves and LPG cylinders and are found cooking on traditional chullahs. Many of them have even stacked cow dung cakes on these stoves and LPG cylinders as they are kept close to their traditional chullahs.
The BPL beneficiaries have stopped visiting LPG distributors and do not make fresh bookings. “There are few takers for Ujjwala cylinders in this block,” said a village senior. The scheme, when introduced, had aroused a lot of frenzy among women living under below poverty line (BPL). They welcomed the scheme expecting that it would help
them get rid of smoky chullahs that not only blackened the utensils but emitted lots of smoke resulting in respiratory diseases.
The scheme was rolled out in the state with fanfare June 20, 2016 and those women whose names were found in the list of social and economic survey got the gas kit each comprising a stove and a cylinder for all of `1,600.
Ratnamani Jena, a housewife, in Karanjabindha village said she took the connection after being influenced by politicians of a particular party before the panchayat polls. However, the sharp rise in the cylinder price has made it out of bounds for them. “It is not possible for us to pay so much for a cylinder,” Pushpalata Sial, a housewife of Sarangpur village, said.
Soro MLA Parshuram Dhada said the scheme has turned into a farce due to the rising costs of cylinders. However, Rakesh Mallick, BJP’s MLA contestant from
Soro, said the scheme has been highly successful all over the
country and the beneficiaries.
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