Kerosene free Chandigarh

From 1st April, 2016, Chandigarh has been declared kerosene free. Thus, no further distribution of subsidized kerosene will be done in Chandigarh from the month of April, 2016 onwards. Chandigarh is the first city in the country to be declared as kerosene free as households have taken to LPG cylinders.

Concerted efforts of stakeholders

• The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Government of India with the help of Chandigarh Administration has been working for several months to make Chandigarh ‘a Kerosene Free City’.
• MoPNG decided to facilitate the households presently using Kerosene Oil by facilitating switch over to LPG with support from Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
• Support from elected representatives: - The cooperation from the elected public representatives such as Member of Parliament, Mayor, Chairman Zila Parishad, the Municipal Councilors and the Sarpanchs, letters were sought and letters were written to all giving details of the activities.
• NSS volunteers : Keeping in view the big role played by the NSS volunteers in hand holding of the beneficiaries during the implementation phase of the DBT in foodgrains scheme, the help of NSS volunteers were taken to spread awareness and assist users getting subsidised kerosene in taking fresh LPG connections.
• A pre - recorded message about the kerosene free city scheme was played in various streets of the identified localities and the religious places like Mandir, Masjid and Gurudwara simultaneously by using USB supported instruments, which in turn not only saved time but was also quite economical.
• A short video on “Kerosene Free City” formatted to cinema format was prepared and played regularly in all the theatres/cinema halls during the interval of the film.

Activities taken up

In the whole process and to facilitate the kerosene beneficiaries to have LPG connections, the following steps were taken by OMCs and Chandigarh administration:

• Camps were organized at various localities in consultation with Chandigarh administration to provide hassle free LPG connections.
• LPG facilitation schemes
  • Deposit Free LPG Connection Scheme - for BPL and AAY households, where these families are being provided with 1 LPG cylinder, 1 Regulator (worth Rs.1600/) free of cost. However the cost of other equipments will have to be borne by the consumer.
  • Zero Percent Interest Loan Scheme - for the rest of the kerosene oil using households who are not covered under the poverty line, but do not have an LPG connection. The eligible and interested households are being provided with 1 LPG cylinder, 1 Regulator, and 1 Suraksha Pipe (worth Rs.1740/ - ) under the 0 % Interest Scheme. However the cost of other equipments will have to be borne by the consumer. The loan amount will be recovered by the Chandigarh Administration from the subsidy amount on subsequent refills by an individual till the actual financed amount is recovered. The undertaking for the same will be signed by the applicant.
• IEC campaign in the form of distribution of Pamphlets and Radio Jingles was done to create awareness among the mass.

During this campaign, a total of 15,249 LPG connections were provided in Chandigarh city, including 1574 for BPL households.

Source : Chandigarh administration