The UPA government’s ambitious direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme will cover almost half of the country by January 2014 for LPG transfers, the official in-charge of the scheme told reporters on Tuesday, adding that Rs 480 crore has been transferred so far into about nine million accounts under the scheme that was launched on January 1.
DBT mission director S Sundareshan said so far DBT has been launched in as many as 28 schemes in 121 districts. He expects the LPG subsidy transfer through the DBT platform to cover 289 districts or almost 50% of the country by January 2014. The LPG subsidy transfer was launched on a trial basis in 20 districts across the country and thereafter on September 1 another 34 districts were added.
As per the rollout plan, 44 more districts would be added on October 1, 46 and 40 districts on November and December 1, respectively. Another 105 districts would be added on January 1, 2014.
Kerala would be the first state wherein all districts will be covered under DBT scheme, Sundareshan said.
?Out of Rs 480 crore, consumers have been transferred roughly Rs 271 crore through their bank accounts in about 6.5 million transactions starting beginning of June fully through the Aadhaar payment bridge,? said Neeraj Mittal, a joint secretary in petroleum and natural gas ministry, who was also present at the press conference.
The amount disbursed so far for all schemes under the DPT, apart from LPG, is around Rs 234 crore, the officials added.
The officials also said that under the scheme, only the amount for the first cylinder was fixed at Rs 435 per cylinder. For the subsequent cylinders, the scheme beneficiaries would get the subsidy prevailing on the day of the transfer. In all, cash subsidy is provided for nine refills in a year under the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme.
