New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) With the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), near-universal LPG coverage has now been achieved and there were about 10.56 crore PMUY connections across the country (as on March 1, 2026), including 52.60 lakh connections in Maharashtra and 43.92 lakh connections in Gujarat, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

The government recently approved the release of 25 lakh additional LPG connections under PMUY during financial year 2025-26 to clear pending applications and achieve saturation of LPG access in the country.

“As on 01.03.2026, under this extension, around 0.48 lakh LPG connections have been released in Maharashtra and around 0.87 lakh LPG connections have been released in Gujarat,” Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi, said in a written answer to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Prior to the launch of PMUY, LPG coverage in the country was about 62 per cent.

Further, per connection consumption (in terms of number of 14.2 kg LPG cylinders taken per year) of PMUY beneficiaries (more than 80 per cent of which comprise rural households) has increased from 3.68 in FY 2021-22 to 4.80 refills in FY 2025-26.

Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have immensely improved the distribution infrastructure for domestic LPG.

“As of 01.03.2026, there are 25,605 LPG distributorships in India, including 17,677 in rural areas, serving by 214 LPG bottling plants of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs),” said Gopi.

To improve LPG access in rural and remote areas, 8,037 distributorships were commissioned between April 2016 and February 2026, of which 7,444 (93 per cent) serve rural regions.

According to the minister, to make LPG more affordable to PMUY consumers and ensure sustained usage of LPG by PMUY consumers, for FY 2025-26, the government is providing targeted subsidy of Rs. 300 per 14.2 kg cylinder for up to 9 refills of 14.2 kg cylinder (and proportionately pro-rated for 5 kg connections) to the PMUY consumers.

Moreover, ‘Saksham’ is the annual flagship programme of Oil Industry Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), aimed at promoting energy conservation and sustainability among the public.

--IANS

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