Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged those who can afford it to surrender subsidised cooking gas or LPG. The Modi said that 2.8 lakh people had responded to an earlier appeal by him made last August through national advertisements issued by oil companies asking people to switch to full-price LPG. The 2.8 lakh people who had surrendered their subsidised LPG had led to a saving for the government of Rs. 100 crores. He said that over the next four years, oil companies planned to increase the reach of piped gas connections to one crore consumers from the current Rs. 27 lakh. Ever since the Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme began, many consumers opted out of the LPG subsidy. Twelve crore bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana were being used to transfer subsidies directly to beneficiaries, and this helped to plug leaks and curb corruption, he said. Mr. Modi said the nation needed to reduce its dependence on energy imports currently 77% by 10% by the end of 2022. “If we can do it, I am sure we will be able to bring down total energy dependence on imports to 50% by 2030.”
