Review of the direct benefit transfer for LPG scheme: committee report
The Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme was rolled out in 291 districts from June 1, 2013 in six phases to do away with the practice of selling the fuel at below cost rates. About Rs 5,400 crore was transferred to more than 2.8 crore LPG consumers across the country. However, the scheme, which provided for cash transfer only to customers having Aadhaar number, was put on hold on March 7 following complaints that many consumers were left out because they either did not have the unique identification number or a bank account. While preliminary results indicated that the scheme met its primary objective of curbing leakages in the distribution system, the speed at which it was rolled out and inclusion of low Aadhaar districts gave rise to consumer grievances, the panel headed by Prof S G Dhande said in its report. The panel headed by the former Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur was appointed to review DBTL.