Mangalore, September 16: Mr B. Ramanath Rai the District in-charge minister said that, “The district administration has launched the process of declaring Mangalore a kerosene-free city; is ready to provide gas connection to houses at a subsidiary cost. With this, Mangalore will be the first city in the state to go kerosene free”.
Addressing the media in the DC’s office on Tuesday, September 16th, the minister said that in the first phase, the provision will apply to those houses which come under the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) and Ullala town municipal limits.The minister also revealed that Mangalore is the first to initiate the programme. He said most of the developed countries do not use kerosene. “It’s harmful to health and the environment”, he added. A note circulated at the press meet stated that the population under the Mangalore City Corporation and Ullala Town municipal is 5,75,000. Of the total 73,465 ration card holders, as many as 19,781 families come under BPL and AAY. Among the BPL card holders, nearly 12,000 families already have gas connections. If 7,500 families avail gas connections, MCC and Ullala will be kerosene free cities.
The Deputy Commissioner said that the BPL cardholders have to approach Mangalore City Corporation where officials will arrange for them to get gas connections using the funds available with the corporation for the welfare of SCs/STs (22.75%), families from economically weaker section of society (7.25%) and those with disabilities (3%). Those in Ullal should approach the Ullal Town Municipal Council.
He said, to those houses which do not come under these categories, the district administration has made arrangement for bank loans. The SCDCC bank is ready to pay Rs 4,000 for each household with a monthly instalment facility of Rs 200.He too added, post providing gas connections, the department of Food and Civil Supplies will stop issuing kerosene to fair price shops for the ration card holders. Special camps As an easier approach for applying the gas connection, the district administration will organize special camps on October 8th-9th and 18th-19th, in places such as Lal Bagh, Surathkal, Kavoor and Ullal. Each camp will have representatives from the Food and Civil Supplies Department, bank and gas distributors. By this, the district administration views at providing gas connections to all the households and declare the city as kerosene free on November 1st.
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