14/12/2019 - Government Policies

KEY POINTS

·        The audit of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India highlights problems that the government will do well to pay heed to and address.

·        Sustained LPG use, one of the key goals of the PMUY, also seems to be out of grasp at present with the annual average of refill consumption for nearly two crore PMUY consumers.

·        Diversion of domestic cylinders for commercial use that plagued the earlier LPG subsidy regime in the country was noticed for nearly two lakh PMUY beneficiaries.

·        The audit also pointed out instances of bank account of others being linked to Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries, which means the subsidy transferred may be getting waylaid—“during test check of KYC records at sample 164 LPG distributors, 100 instances were noticed where bank account of others were linked with PMUY beneficiaries”, the report noted.

·        The audit findings make a strong case for not just Aadhaar linking of all family members of existing as well as new beneficiaries to ensure rigorous de-duplication but also for spot checks to see if intended beneficiaries are diverting LPG to unintended beneficiaries or for commercial purposes.

Measures needed

·        Apart from rejigging the software at oil-marketing companies to add the appropriate input controls and data validation, e-KYC needs to be initiated too.

·        A special focus also needs to be given to low consumption households, especially to address the underlying factors.

·        The scheme had called for third-party audits to ensure that leakages are eliminated; the government must try and formalise this at the earliest. 

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