Foundation Stone Laying for New LPG Bottling Plant at Agartala

NEW DELHI:
Minister of State (I/C) – Petroleum & Natural Gas laid the foundation stone for a New grass-root Bottling plant at an event in Agartala.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was also launched for the state of Tripura by Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (I/C) – Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India; in the august presence of Bhanulal Saha, Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Finance, Govt. of Tripura; Ashutosh Jindal, Joint Secretary (Marketing), MOP & NG; B S Canth, Director (Marketing), IndianOil; Gurmeet Singh, Executive Director (LPG), IndianOil and Dipankar Ray, Executive Director (IndianOil AOD State Office), IndianOil.
The proposed Plant of 60 TMTPA capacity will be setup at an estimated cost of Rs.143 Crores. The plant is to be built on 40 acres of land in Budhjongnagar Industrial Park, Khayerpur and is expected to be commissioned by June, 2019. This new plant will increase the LPG Bottling Capacity of Tripura from 21 TMTPA to 60 TMTPA and thus will be able to cater to the rising demand of LPG in the state. Further, Capacity Augmentation of Silchar Bottling Plant, (by 60 TMTPA) was also announced which is expected to be complete by December 2017 and will also aid is ensuring smooth supply of LPG in the state of Tripura.
In his address, Minister of State (I/C) – Petroleum & Natural Gas emphasized on the focus of Central Government to ensure adequate availability of essential petroleum products such as Petrol, Diesel and LPG to the people of Tripura. Referring to the Indian Oil Bottling Plant at Bishalgarh which currently is meeting around one third of State’s LPG demand, Pradhan mentioned that the newly proposed Bottling plant at Budhjongnagar will be able to plug the gap between supply and demand in the state. He added that any further demand will be met through the capacity augmentation of Silchar Bottling Plant.
Elaborating on the ambitious plans of Central Government to improve upon Petroleum Infrastructure in state, Minister of State (I/C) – Petroleum & Natural Gas announced that Rs.550 Crores will be invested to increase Oil Tankage and Supply in Tripura by augmenting the capacity of Dharmanagar Depot and other facilities in the state. Pradhan also mentioned that 40 new LPG Distributors and 40 new Retail Outlets will added to bolster the product supply in the state. Pradhan mentioned that the new LPG Distributorships and Retail Outlets, would also contribute in Job creation within the state.
In a symbolic launch of the PMUY in Tripura, 20 beneficiaries from ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) families was handed over with connections by Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (I/C) – Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India; and Bhanulal Saha, Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Finance, Govt. of Tripura. This marked one more step in the direction of providing LPG connections during the three financial years commencing 2016-17 to 5 crore families who are Below Poverty Line (BPL). As Tripura, as on 01.08.2017, has 9.22 Lakh households with an LPG coverage of 48.9%. The Oil Marketing Companies would strive to achieve 100% penetration in days to come. The OMCs will be organizing “Melas” and “Camps” at various locations for releasing of connection to BPL families. PMUY scheme provides assistance of Rs. 1600 to the woman beneficiary, comprising security deposit of 14.2 Kg cylinder and domestic pressure regulator; suraksha hose; domestic gas consumer card and installation charges. In addition to this, the beneficiary will have the choice to avail EMI option to pay the cost of LPG Stove or first Installation or both. Cost of LPG Stove or availing loan on Refill or both will be recovered on EMI basis by the OMC from the subsidy amount due to the customer on purchase of each refill.
Subsequent to the launch of the scheme on 1st May, 2016 at Balia in UP; several regional launches took place for the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Odisha, Bihar, Haryana, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya to expedite enrolment of more and more of beneficiaries in the scheme. Within a span of little over one year from its launch, more than 2.7 crore beneficiaries have been released LPG connections under the scheme throughout the country.