The Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Murli Deora launched here today a new scheme called “Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitrak(RGGLV)” in the presence of Shri Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas.  The Scheme aims at setting up small size LPG distribution agencies in order to increase rural penetration and to cover remote as well as low potential areas for all the locations having potential of 600 refill sales per month. 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Deora informed that the scheme is initially being launched in 8 states covering over 1200 locations where the reach of LPG is very low.  He informed  that  the Scheme will also provide new employment opportunities for the rural population leading to overall economic prosperity.  Recalling  that Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi envisioned self-reliant villages through the institution of Panchyati Raj System,   the Minister pointed out that he  wanted the villages to become self-sufficient in their needs so that our rural population is not forced to migrate to big towns and cities for jobs and other facilities.  This Scheme is yet another step in fulfilling the vision of our great visionary leader.

The Minister added that LPG has now reached urban and semi urban areas across the country. 83% of LPG network is in urban areas, while only 17% network is in rural areas.  There is an urgent need to extend LPG coverage in rural areas.  In the order to eliminate ailments due to use of chulhas and to provide clean cooking fuel to our rural women folk, Government has launched Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitrak Scheme.

            Shri Jitin Prasada also stressed the importance of the Scheme for both youth and women empowerment specially in the rural areas.  He  elaborated  that the scheme would help in making cooking a more convenient experience for rural folks besides providing employment opportunities in those areas. 

Salient features of the scheme are:-

(i)    Size of the agency – The agencies under the RGGLV will be of small size requiring lesser finance/infrastructure. These agencies would be viable with monthly refill sales of 600 against 2,500 at present.

(ii)   The agencies would penetrate deeper into the rural areas where regular distributorships become unviable due to the scale of operation and investment.  RGGLV distributors may be viable for around 1,500 customers in the cluster of villages being served.

(iii)  These agencies will be self operated – the distributorship himself will manage the agency, with the help of his family member and one or two employees.

(iv)  There will be no arrangement for home delivery.

(v)   Age limit for the distributor is being kept as between 21 and 45 years leading to new employment opportunities for the rural youth.

(vi)  Distributor under the scheme will have to be a permanent resident of the village(s) covered by particular location.

(vii) Under this scheme, all agencies will be in the joint name of husband and wife.  In case of applicants who are single, an undertaking will be obtained that after marriage, ‘Spouse’ will automatically deem to become ‘partner’.  This will be a step towards empowerment of rural womenfolk.

(viii)        The likely capital expenditure for setting up of a new RGGLV distributorship will be about Rs. 3.21 lakh with land measuring 20 mtr. X 24 mtr. being owned by the candidate being an essential requirement.

(ix)  The distributor will be able to recover the capital expenditure by the time 1,800 new LPG connections are released.  The indicative net income of the distributor would be about Rs. 7,500 per month.

(x)           An important feature of the scheme is that no interviews would be conducted and selection of the distributors would be by draw of lots from amongst all candidates who have secured more than 80% marks on the criteria of financial capability and educational qualifications.

(xi)  25% of the locations would be reserved for SC/ST categories in the respective states.  25% reservation for the categories of Defence Personnel/Para Military Personnel/Physically Handicapped/ Outstanding Sports persons would be clubbed under one common category.  In the common category, if no candidate is found, then the advertisement next time would be under open category.

Initially the scheme is being launched in the under-mentioned 8 states in the country:

As per the “Vision-2015” adopted for the LPG sector, target of overall 75% LPG population coverage has been fixed.  However to ensure that growth of LPG usage is evenly spread, Oil Marketing Companies will be assessing/identifying location under the new scheme in rural/low potential areas in all States/Union Territories so as to achieve target growth of at least 50% LPG population coverage in each district and at least 60% overall LPG coverage in each State over the next five years.

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