Telangana: Gruha Jyothi, Rs 500 LPG cylinder from Feb end

A decision to this effect was taken during a review meeting held by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Thursday

Hyderabad: The State government is gearing up to implement the Gruha Jyothi free power upto 200 units scheme and the Rs.500 domestic LPG cylinder scheme from February 27 or 29. A decision to this effect was taken during a review meeting held by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy here on Thursday. He issued orders to officials to make necessary arrangements immediately for implementation of Gruha Jyothi and the Rs.500 LPG cylinder schemes. Officials have been instructed to ensure all those, who have applied during the Praja Palana programme, avail the benefits under the two schemes.

The Chief Minister along with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka held a review with the Cabinet Sub-Committee at Secretariat. Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and others participated in the meeting.The Cabinet Sub Committee discussed in detail the arrangements, which are being made for implementation of the two schemes and procedures to be followed in executing them.

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The Chief Minister ordered the officials to extend the Rs.500 LPG cylinder scheme benefit to all eligible applicants who filed applications in the ‘Praja Palana’ programme. He enquired with the State Finance and Civil Supplies department officials about the challenges and hurdles to be faced, besides possibilities of disbursing the gas subsidy benefit directly into the beneficiaries’ accounts or to the gas agency.

The Chief Minister also directed officials to adopt a user-friendly mechanism wherein the beneficiary should get the cylinder by paying Rs.500 only. Towards this, he wanted the officials to hold talks with the gas distribution agencies and make arrangements for paying the subsidy amount immediately to the distribution agencies on behalf of the government, he said.

The Chief Minister directed the Energy department officials to implement the Gruha Jyothi scheme in a transparent manner without any scope for doubts and misconceptions. He instructed the authorities to extend the scheme to all those, who possessed a White Ration card and consume below 200 units a month for domestic needs only. The Energy department has been asked to issue ‘zero’ electricity bills to all the eligible beneficiaries under the Gruha Jyothi scheme from March first week.

The Chief Minister also suggested to the officials to give an opportunity to the applicants for rectifying any errors like entry of wrong card numbers and power connection numbers in the applications submitted during the Praja Palana programme. This will help the applicants, who got rejected, to avail the scheme.

The electricity bill collection centers and service centers will undertake the correction of the wrong details in the applications. The Energy department officials have been asked to carry out a mass campaign to create awareness among people on the scheme implementation in every village. The Gruha jyothi scheme benefit will be provided to all the eligible people, who have corrected the mistakes from next month. The Chief Minister also instructed to open regular counters at MPDO and Tahsildar offices to receive applications continuously from people, who could not apply in the Praja Palana programme.