By Bizdisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 5, 2018: More than half of the household now have Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG cooking gas) connection in Odisha according to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

“LPG penetration in Odisha has reached to 58.55 per cent by May 1 this year against 20% in June 2014. The Government of India has set a target of providing gas connections to 80 lakh household by the end of December 2018,” Pradhan on Saturday said at the Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat at Mangalajodi in Khurda district organized by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).

Pradhan said as of now a total 24.23 lakh connections have been released under Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojna.

Last year, 177 new LPG distributors have been added to the list which comes around 775 of total LPG distributors as on May 1. Additional 225 LPG distributors will be added to make it total 1000, Pradhan said adding that this shows the level of LPG penetration in Odisha.

Pradhan also said that currently four bottling plants exist in the state and three new bottling plants are planned to be set up in Khurda, Bolangir and Rayagada districts.

The Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat programme was organised with an intention to promote the use of LPG among the rural consumers and safe and sustained use of LPG through peer group interactions on a large scale.