Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Central government’s policy of giving LPG subsidy directly in consumers’ bank accounts has saved the country Rs 15,000 crore last year.
“When we decided to deposit the subsidy directly to the bank accounts, we found that three to four crore consumers could not be traced. This leakage of gas connection was stopped and we saved Rs 15,000 crore in an year,” Modi told a public meeting in Assam on March 26.
He said 85 lakh people had surrendered their LPG subsidy in response to his request.
“It is my government’s endeavour to ensure that free gas connection is provided to about five crore poor families as according to surveys cooking in firewood leads to inhaling smoke equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes,” he said.
Modi said, adding he was sharing the informations to show if the motivations are right then policies and framework are also in the right direction.
He said that earlier urea did not reach the farmers but went straight to the chemical factories where it was used as raw material. But now his government has introduced neem coating and the factories cannot use it.
“After coming to power, I emphasised on giving priority to accountability as only then the policies will be result-oriented,” he said.
The PM further said that the Jan Dhan and Mudra Yojanas were also very successful and helped more than 20 crore families to open their bank accounts and Rs 1.25 lakh crore of loans are being distributed.
He further added that those people who surrendered their subsidy are not rich people and includes even retired persons. This has helped many poor people, he added.
