New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS): The union cabinet on Wednesday approved an additional 75 lakh new LPG connections under the Ujjwala scheme, which will be given in the next three years.

The total cost on these connections will come to Rs 1,650 crore.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, while addressing a press conference after the cabinet meeting, said that these new connections will be in continuation of existing deposit- free connections, which are provided under the Ujjwala scheme.

The 75 lakh new connections will be given to those households which are dependent on wood for cooking food, which affects the health of women folk in rural households, he said.

The expense for giving these deposit-free connections will be borne by the central government, which later will be reimbursed by oil marketing companies (OMCs), Thakur said.

Under the new Ujjwala connections, the first stove and cylinder will be given free of cost, the expenses of which will be borne by OMCs, the minister said.

Earlier, the cabinet last month had reduced Rs 200 per cylinder for domestic cooking gas connection holders, while for Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries, the connections had become Rs 400 cheaper.

The latest decision as well as the earlier one by the union cabinet has come at a time when Assembly elections in five states are just 90 days away  and the Lok Sabha polls are six months away.