From today cooking gas (LPG) consumers in 18 districts will get 435 rupees in their bank accounts when they book an LPG cylinder as the government rolls out its ambitious direct benefit transfer programme to cut its fuel subsidy.

The scheme was to be rolled out in 20 districts initially but the launch in Mysore in Karnataka and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh has been put off by a month due to assembly and Parliamentary bypolls, official sources said.

Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily will launch the scheme in Tumkur in his home state Karnataka while Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Lakshmi Panabaka will kickoff the scheme in Hyderabad.

The government intends to extend the scheme to rest of the country before end of the year after monitring the results in the districts in which it has been started from today. The districts selected have high Aadhaar or unique identification number penetration.
While as many as 89% of the LPG consuming population in these districts have Aadhaar number, government will give a three-month grace period to them to procure the UID number and seed it with their bank accounts where cash subsidy has to be transferred.
The government anticipates a saving of Rs 8,000 to 10,000 crore in LPG subsidy annually after the scheme is rolled out all over the country.

The 18 districts where the DBT for LPG is being launched from 1st June include Anantpur, Chittoor, East Godavari, Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy in Andhra Pradesh; Diu in Daman and Diu; North Goa; Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Una in Himachal Pradesh; Tumkur in Karnataka; Pathanamthitta and Wayand in Kerala; Wardha in Maharasthra; Pondicherry; SBS Nagar/Nawanshahar in Punjab and East Nimar (Khandwa) and Harda in Madhya Pradesh.