Ujjwala scheme fails to benefit rural women in Kashmir; opposition alleges scam
Economically weak rural residents in Jammu and Kashmir allege that either they have been asked to pay for the free LPG cylinder under the Ujjwala scheme, or have not received the cylinder at all. Their names however appear as beneficiaries. The opposition parties allege a scam is being orchestrated by the ‘gas mafia’.
There are many more rural women in Kashmir region who have applied and even paid for the ‘free’ gas cylinder connection but are yet to receive it.
Budgam (Jammu and Kashmir)
Sitting beside dambur, a Kashmiri mud-stove that uses firewood as fuel, middle-aged Fatima coughed uncontrollably as she rubbed her watery eyes. A large part of her day is spent in her smoky kitchen cooking meals for her family. In order to avail a cooking gas connection, Fatima finally submitted a form to get an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinder to put an end to her daily misery. However, her drudgery continues as it’s been almost two years and she is yet to receive her cylinder.
Fatima, who belongs to the Gujjar scheduled tribe, is a resident of Budgam district’s Chaliyan-Chontinad hamlet in Jammu and Kashmir. And she is not the only woman who has to rely on the polluting firewood to cook food as arranging for twigs in the harsh Kashmir winters is a daily struggle for thousands of women across the Union Territory.
There are many more rural women in Kashmir region who have applied and even paid for the ‘free’ gas cylinder connection but are yet to receive it. Allegations of a scam have also surfaced.
“Many people have alleged that money has been taken from them for the free LPG scheme. Govt must hold an in-depth inquiry into this scam across Jammu Kashmir so that culprits are brought to justice,” Syed Bashir Veeri, former state legislator and National Conference leader, told Gaon Connection.
About 50 kilometres from Fatima’s hamlet, aggrieved by the gas-operators demanding money for providing an LPG connection, two months back on October 18, about 500 residents of the Drager village in Budgam district assembled to draft a resolution against the alleged fraud.
The villagers who participated in the panchayat (council) meeting in Budgam stated that they had either not received the LPG cylinder or had been asked to pay for it despite the fact that Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) provides free-of-cost LPG connections to women living below the poverty line.
Ghulam Nabi Shah, village sarpanch (head), told Gaon Connection that although the names of several of the residents in Dragger village existed on the official records as regular beneficiaries of the scheme, they hadn’t received the cylinders free of cost.
“We appeal to the government to do justice to the people of our village who have been duped by way of taking money from them for Ujjwala Yojna which is a free of cost government programme,” Shah told Gaon Connection.
Similarly, Shafiq Mir, chairperson of the Block Development Council in Poonch district’s Bufliaz block, demanded an investigation into the implementation of the LPG scheme in Poonch and Rajouri districts. He alleged that a well-organised nexus of government officials and the ‘LPG gas mafia’ is duping the uneducated villagers.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
In May 2016, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had introduced the ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ with the aim of providing clean cooking fuel such as LPG to the rural and deprived households (below poverty line), which otherwise use traditional, polluting cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, and cow-dung cakes.
Usage of traditional cooking fuels is linked to indoor air pollution which is laden with detrimental impacts on the health of rural women as well as on the environment. According to a report titled Indoor Air Pollution in India: Implications on Health and its Control published in the United States National Library of Medicine in its October-December edition in 2014, the ill-effects of indoor air pollution result in about two million premature deaths per year, wherein 44 per cent are due to pneumonia, 54 per cent from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and two per cent from lung cancer.
“In my block, Bufliaz district Poonch , which is one of the remotest blocks in Kashmir, people have been deprived of free LPG connections under Ujjawala Yojna. Those women who got the connection had to pay for it. I want a probe to be held in Poonch and Rajouri districts soon,” Mir told Gaon Connection.
Opposition parties allege a bigger scam
The two of the most prominent opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir — National Conference and People’s Democratic Party both allege a nexus of ‘gas mafia’ in the Union Territory which is making money by selling LPG cylinders which are to be provided free of cost to the poor beneficiaries.
Syed Bashir Veeri, National Conference leader, told Gaon Connection that the “mismanagement in the Ujjwala Yojana is actually a scam” and demanded an official probe.
“Many people have alleged that money has been taken from them for this free LPG scheme. Govt must hold an in-depth inquiry into this scam across Jammu Kashmir so that culprits are brought to justice,” he said.
Also Read: 54% Indian households still using firewood, cow dung as cooking fuel: Study
Meanwhile, Said Naeem Akhtar, former education minister in the erstwhile state cabinet and a PDP leader, pointed out the lack of transparency in the scheme’s implementation.
“The beneficiary list should actually have been made available on every district website but it isn’t,” Akhtar told Gaon Connection. “PDP demands a probe into this programme and all those people who have been made to pay for free of cost LPG service should be refunded the money and those LPG Dealers or government officers who have been involved in this scam should be taken to task by the government,” the former minister added.
Activists using RTI to expose the ‘scam’
Meanwhile, in areas where social activists have actively raised the issue about the mismanagement of the Ujjwala scheme, some beneficiaries have received the connection within 24 hours of the activists flagging it on social media.
In September this year, Mukhti Begum who belongs to Kumhar (potter) community in a remote Wangawas village in Budgam district was provided LPG connection under Ujjwala yojna after a gap of two years.
An RTI (right to information) activist named Mushtaq Ahmad Lone had received official information which showed that Mukhti Begum’s name figured in the beneficiary list provided by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).
“For more than three years I had been urging the local LPG dealers to provide me free LPG gas connection under Ujjwala yojna, but they hardly cared. I never knew my name figured in the list, which was revealed after Mudaser Yatoo got details from a gas company under RTI,” Mukhti Begum told Gaon Connection.
“When this news spread to other villages through the internet, the local LPG dealer came to my house within 24 hours and gave me one filled LPG cylinder, one gas stove and regulator along with the pipe,” Mukhti Begum narrated. “I have got justice but there are thousands of women like me in Jammu and KAshmir who are still waiting for this free LPG service,” she added.
As per the official data published by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has provided 1,080,810 LPG connections in undivided Jammu and Kashmir as on June 24, 2019.
LG Manoj Sinha mentions mismanagement in radio programme
Meanwhile, Lone, the social activist, requested the Budgam district administration to solve the issue and provide gas connections to the aggrieved women.
“But they didn’t do anything about it. Then I wrote a letter to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha who mentioned the issue in his monthly Awaam ki Awaaz radio program,” the social activist told Gaon Connection.
In his monthly address to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in October, the Lieutenant Governor praised the efforts of the activist and assured a probe into the alleged misdealings in the Ujjawala gas cylinders.
“I will order the concerned authorities to look deeper into the issue,” Sinha had said.
When Gaon Connection spoke to a senior official in the Department of Food and Civil Supplies to know about the progress made in the probe, the department’s Assistant Director Ifthikar Ahmad informed that two villages have been investigated.
“Our investigation report from Gogge Pathri and Draggar villages is ready. We will submit the same before our administrative department by December end. We have interviewed almost all the aggrieved women in these two villages,” he said.
However, there has been no official word about a similar investigation across Jammu and Kashmir.