Bhubaneswar: The oil ministry, today, distributed 121 Letter of Intents (LoI) for New LPG Distributorships at Jaydev Bhavan, Bhubaneswar. Hon’ble Minister of State (I/c) Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India Shri Dharmendra Pradhan graced the occasion and handed over the LoIs to 121 New LPG distributors in the mela. This will usher in an era of socio-economic empowerment & employment generation for youth of Odisha.
Speaking on the occasion, Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble MoS (i/c), P& NG told that as on August 2017, LPG coverage in Odisha has increased from 20.0 % in 2014 to 50 % which is about 150% increase. He pointed out that as of now, Odisha is having 4 LPG bottling plants having total capacity of 340 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) with a distributor network of 582. He informed the gathering that to strengthen the LPG supply chain in Odisha, LPG Import Terminal at Paradip at a cost of Rs 700 Crore is being set-up. Also, LPG product Pipeline from Paradeep to Balasore and new LPG bottling plants at Khordha, Bolangir and Rayagada at an investment of Rs 400 crores are also planned.
Mr. Pradhan added that MoPNG has invested Rs 2500 crore in LPG related infrastructure in Odisha. To keep pace with this increased demands, the distribution network is also being augmented from existing network of 582 LPG distributors to nearly 1000 distributors with addition of 400 new LPG distributorships through a transparent process of selection, he added.
While congratulating the new LoI holders, Mr. Pradhan urged them to ensure imparting knowledge of safe practices to new consumers who are mostly from rural areas/BPL families. He urged selected distributors to ensure improved services to consumers. He congratulated them for becoming entrepreneurs which will also provide sustenance and employment to youths in the state.
During the programme, Minister P&NG Sri Dharmendra Pradhan awarded 121 LoIs to new distributors from 30 districts of Odisha during the function. These include 57 Women, 25 OBC, 20 SC/ST and 2 physically handicapped category distributors. These distributors have been selected through a transparent merit based system. There is a provision for financial assistance to SC/ST candidates by providing bank loan, margin money, working capital loan with easy instalment schedule under the corpus fund scheme.
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