Elections 2019: 'Ujjwala' Fails in UP Due to High Cost of Refilling

Ballia: With distribution of 98,75, 277 cylinders of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Uttar Pradesh tops the list under the much-vaunted Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). But in reality, women in rural areas are still burning wood to cook food — because the cost of refilling is too high.

After a bumpy ride of about 90 minutes from the Ballia district headquarters, the Newsclick team reached the Ratshar Kalan village — the same village where Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Ujjwala scheme on May 1, 2016.

Ten women in the village had received the LPG connections during the launch from Modi himself.

On reaching the village, the Newsclick team found that over 150 families of the village from the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities had received the connection, but not even 10 per cent of the families were using it.

Suneeta, in her late 30s and a mother of three kids, said she had used only three LPG refills till date since May 1, 2016.

Also read: Cooking Gas Prices Sky High, Usage Dropping

“To use the LPG, we need to have money to refill the gas in our cylinders. I had to spend all my savings in getting the refill of the cylinders done. We cannot afford buying so many costly refills,” she said.

“If the cost would have been lesser, then I could have thought of again buying the refills, because no one likes to sit in front of the wood-burning stoves in this sweltering summer and getting exposed to the fumes.”

Suneeta, the wife of a daily wager, added, “Getting the connection is very easy as the government is giving subsidy and the process is also fast, but what is the use of all these things when there is no difference in the cost of refilling. Sometimes I feel that we lost our money in getting the gas connections and now what to do with the stove, regulator and this rubber pipe? I use this rubber pipe for threatening my kids when they do not listen to me. The gas stove has been packed under a piece of cloth and kept inside the cupboard.”

The Ballia district has received close to 1 lakh Ujjwala connections, but the numbers are not clear since the district supply officer was on leave.

Under the Ujjwala scheme one can get 12 cylinders refilled in a year. One can avail subsidy in getting the connection, though there is no special subsidy for BPL (below poverty line) families. The cost of a new LPG connection under the Ujjwala scheme is Rs 1,750, which includes one LPG cylinder, one gas stove, a rubber pipe and a regulator, while the cost of a normal gas connection is Rs 2,950. To avail of the Ujjwala connection, one needs to have a Jan Dhan account and fill up a simple form.

Also read: The Truth About the Ujjwala scheme

According to data available with the central government’s Press Information Bureau, till August 2018, the government delivered 5 crore cylinders under the scheme.

Bhanu, another resident of Ratshar Kalan village, says, “For a person who is the sole bread earner for a family of five, it is impossible to refill the gas cylinder when the monthly income of the family is not more than Rs 5,000. There are other expenses in the family too. So why should one go for a modern but very expensive facility, which is affecting the economic situation of the family? That too, when firewood is available at the cost of peanuts!”

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 3.8 million people die worldwide every year due to household exposure to smoke from dirty stoves using kerosene and solid fuels.

According to village headman Smriti Singh, the only reason that these beneficiaries of the the PMUY scheme are not using the LPG cylinders is the high cost of refilling. However, being a BJP supporter, Singh refused to criticise the scheme.

The Ballia constituency is going to vote for in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on May 19.