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A new cooking gas distribution scheme for the rural areas has been launched by the Union Petroleum Ministry as Diwlai Gift. This has been named after late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said initially, the scheme will be launched in eight states covering 1,200 locations.
Jitin Prasada, the Minister of State for Petroleum, mentioned that Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitrak is an attempt for increasing the reach of LPG in rural areas.
Vision 2015 paper on the LPG sector calls for penetration of cooking gas in rural areas to reach 75%s. The coking gas agencies under this scheme will be smaller in size, with a viability of 600 monthly refill sales, when compared to the current 2,500 monthly refill sales.
The number of customers required for a viable agency is estimated at around 1,500 in a cluster of villages.
The scheme has a very interesting condition. The agency will be registered under the name of both husband and wife. Any person who applies for the agency before marriage has to give an undertaking that the “spouse” will be undertaking the role of business partner automatically after marriage.
The age limit of applicants has been kept between 21 and 45 years to increase employment among rural youth.
