Free gas to Below Poverty Line families in Karnataka

Hubballi: Launching the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to provide free LPG connections to Below Poverty Line households in the state here on Saturday, Union Petroleum Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan assured that all 36 lakh BPL families in Karnataka would be given gas connections under the scheme.

Noting that currently only six lakh BPL households had gas connections in the state, he appealed to the Siddaramaiah government to cooperate with the Centre in reaching out to the poor under its Anila Bhagya scheme.

Taking dig at leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mr Pradhan observed that around 50 per cent of the families in Gulbarga district that he represents in parliament, had no gas connection still although the constituency had been a Congress stronghold for decades. "Only 14 crore households in the country had received LPG gas connection  in 60 years until 2014. But we have provided a record seven crore gas connections in  just three years of coming to power at the Centre," the minister said, revealing that 2.25 crore gas connections had already been provided in the country.