NEW DELHI: The government has extended till September-end the time by which poor women wishing to avail of free cooking gas ( LPG ) connections must apply for the unique 12-digit biometric identification number Aadhaar The government had in March this year mandated that anyone not having Aadhaar but desirous of availing free LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana must apply for it by May 31.The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas yesterday issued a gazette notification extending that deadline to September 30.The government had in October last year made the unique identification number mandatory for everyone to get LPG subsidies. In March this year it was extended for free cooking gas connections to women of BPL households. "The government had last year launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to provide 5 crore poor women with free LPG connections in three years with a view to providing clean cooking fuel. So far over 2.6 crore free connections have been provided. The subsidy on every cylinder is transfered in advance directly into bank accounts of individuals, who then buy the cooking fuel at market rates.

Source: Economic Times August 05, 2017 12:25 UTC