Govt to credit amount in women beneficiaries’ accounts in advance

Vijayawada: The State government decided to remit amount towards free gas cylinder into the accounts of women beneficiaries in advance as part of Deepam-2 scheme phase-3, which will commence from August.

The State Cabinet led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu discussed at length over numerous complaints being received on the implementation of free gas cylinder scheme and finally decided to credit gas cylinder amount in advance into the accounts of women.

Minister for Civil Supplies Nadendla Manohar, revealing the decisions of the State Cabinet, said that due to logistic and transaction issues and numerous complaints received from women beneficiaries over the delay in crediting the amount into their accounts, the Cabinet decided to remit the amount in advance before the commencement of Phase 3 of Deepam scheme.

He said under Deepam-2 scheme in first phase, 99,70,000 women were benefited through delivery of free gas cylinder and in Phase 2, which is in force from April-July, 70,000 women booked free gas cylinders so far.

He said giving top priority for welfare of women, the coalition government decided to credit gas cylinder amount in advance into the accounts of women beneficiaries to improve their satisfaction levels.

It may be noted that the State government launched Deepam-2 free LPG cylinder scheme on October 31, 2024, during Diwali, aligning with its commitment to women’s welfare, household financial security, and environmental conservation. With an annual expenditure of approximately Rs 3,000 crore, the scheme targets 1.1 crore eligible households, providing three free cylinders every year.

However, the free gas cylinder scheme has failed to satisfy the women beneficiaries, as they have to pay the cylinder amount and delay in reimbursement of the amount and due to snags in delivery mechanism. As the State government received numerous complaints from people over free gas cylinder scheme and delay in crediting money into their accounts, the State Cabinet led by the Chief Minister decided to credit the gas cylinder amount in advance into the accounts of women beneficiaries.

A part of it, the government will credit the gas cylinder amount into the account of around one crore women beneficiaries accounts in advance in Phase 3 which will commence from August.