New Delhi, Sep 4 (PTI): After the success of the pilot programme in 20 districts, the scheme to pay domestic cooking gas (LPG) consumers cash subsidy will be extended to 289 districts in the country by January 1.

Under the scheme, Rs 435 is deposited in bank accounts of household LPG consumers in advance so as to help them purchase a 14.2-kg LPG cylinder at market price, which is more than double of Rs 410 per bottle rate in Delhi.

The moment the refill is bought, the subsidy prevalent on that day will be credited to Aadhaar-linked bank account of LPG consumer for another cylinder. In all, cash subsidy is provided for nine refills in a year under the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme.
An official statement said DBTL has been extended to 34 districts like West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, West Goa, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Kottayam in Kerala, Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh, Amravati in Maharashtra and Ludhiana in Punjab.

"Government has decided to extend the DBTL Scheme in 235 more districts by January 1, 2014 in phases depending on Aadhaar penetration. With this roll out, almost half the country, covering 289 districts, will get covered," it said.

The DBTL in 54 districts currently covers 21.9 million LPG consumers and as much as Rs 222 crore subsidy has been transferred through 5.3 million transactions into the bank accounts of the LPG consumers so far.

"In order to avail transfer of cash subsidy into the bank account, Aadhaar number of the LPG consumer has to be linked to the LPG consumer number and bank account for which a three months grace period from date of launch is being provided," the statement said.
A three month grace period has been given to get Aadhaar number and link it with their bank accounts. After the grace period, only consumers with Aadhaar number-linked bank accounts will get cash subsidy, it said.

By January, almost all the state capitals will be covered under the scheme. This would mean more than half of the 14 crore LPG consumers in the country will come under DBTL. An estimated Rs 27,000 crore will be transfered to consumers through DBTL in a year.
The statement said during the grace period all consumers will continue to get LPG cylinders at subsidised rate. After the grace period is over, all LPG consumers have to pay for LPG cylinders at market rate. Linkage via Aadhaar number is required for the transfer of cash subsidy.

"Thus, only those who have linked their Aadhaar numbers to both their bank account and LPG consumer number will be able to receive cash subsidy in their bank accounts. After the grace period is over, consumers will receive cash subsidy as and when they link their Aadhaar numbers for the balance entitlement," it said.

From next month, 44 districts including Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Ambala in Haryana, Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Udupi in Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Nagput and Thane in Maharashtra, Amritsar and Bathinda in Punjab, Ajmer in Rajasthan and Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu will be covered.

In the Phase-VI from November 1, 46 districts including Daman, Faridabad in Haryana, Dhanbad in Jharkhand, Uttara Kannada in Karnataka, Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, Pune in Maharashtra, Puri and Cuttack in Odisha, Yanam in Puducherry, SAS Nagar (Mohali) in Punjab, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Kolkata in West Bengal.

From December 1, 40 districts including Porbandar in Gujarat, Karnal in Haryana, Bangalore in Karnataka, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Kolhapur in Maharashtra, Firozpur in Punjab, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu and Hugli in West Bengal will be covered.

In the last phase beginning January 1, 105 districts including nine in Delhi, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Gurgaon in Haryana, Belgaum in Karnataka, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Murshidabad in West Bengal will be covered.