Delhi govt to dole out cash to the poor

“We are working on a scheme under which cash subsidy will be provided to all BPL families if they switch over from using kerosene as fuel to LPG,” officials in Food and Civil Supplies department said.

They said the government may extend a cash subsidy of Rs 250 to each BPL family per LPG cylinder against its market price of Rs 310,besides providing the gas stove free of cost.

“If we give a cash subsidy of Rs 250 per cylinder,then a beneficiary will have to pay an additional amount of Rs 60-70 to buy a LPG cylinder,” the officials said.

Concerned over misuse of subsidies provided under various schemes,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had in his budget speech last week announced the government will provide a direct cash subsidy on kerosene and fertilisers to the poor from March next year.

The city government had been pressing for replacing the Public Distribution System with direct cash transfer to beneficiaries.

Officials in Food and Civil Supplies department admit that despite sincere efforts,the department has not been able to stop diversion of kerosene meant for distribution under PDS system.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had last year met Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia with the proposal of allowing cash transfer to the beneficiaries who are entitled to get kerosene at subsidised rate

Every BPL family in the city is entitled to get 22 litres of kerosene per month at Rs 15.00 per litre against the market rate of Rs 27 to Rs 30 per litre.

Last year,the Centre had approved an upper limit of 4.09 lakh BPL cards for the national capital.

As part of its efforts to streamline the PDS system,the city government had last year started the process of issuing bio-metric BPL cards. The government had also found at least 18,000 bogus ration cards in the national capital last year.