 "Pradhan to take stock of DBT plan for kerosene subsidy")
"We plan to cover at least 40 districts in the first phase. All the chief secretaries and secretaries of the civil supplies departments of the respective states, along with other key officials dealing with the matter, will be present in Thursday's meeting," Pradhan told Business Standard.
The ministry had in January announced it would launch DBT for distribution of kerosene subsidy in 26 districts across eight states.
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This means kerosene consumers, largely representing the poor population in rural areas, will have to pay the market price of Rs 43 per litre from April 1, and then, the government will transfer the subsidy amount (Rs 31 per litre) into their bank accounts.
"Since the announcement, the number of districts which we plan to cover in the first phase has gone up to 40 across nine states. Thursday's meeting will witness participation from all the 20-odd states which have shown willingness to be on board and digitise the database of consumers," a senior ministry official told Business Standard.
The move is aimed at eliminating subsidised kerosene from the supply chain, eliminate pilferage and black-marketing and cut adulteration of the cheap fuel with diesel, while retaining the provision of subsidy to the needy. The previous government had tried to implement the scheme in 2011 but it had failed to take off. Subsidised kerosene constitutes the bulk of all total kerosene consumed and is provided through the Public Distribution System (PDS), a network of fair price shops (FPS), administered at the state level.
For every state, PDS kerosene allocations are released on a quarterly basis, with the states' department of food and civil supplies ensuring distribution to retail outlets. The Centre has allocated 8.7 million kgs of subsidised kerosene to states in the current financial year even as total annual consumption stands at 7.13 million kgs.
In 2014-15, oil marketing companies (OMCs) lost Rs 24,000 crore on subsidised kerosene sales, around a third of their total under-recoveries of Rs 72,000 crore. The Centre's petroleum subsidy burden was at Rs 60,000 crore last financial year and has come down to Rs 30,000 crore in the current financial year. Kerosene would account for Rs 8,000 crore of this. In 2016-17, the Centre is budgeting for a total petroleum subsidy of Rs 26,900 crore, including Rs 7,000 crore for kerosene.
While the government asserts its latest plan follows detailed discussions with states on DBT, lack of clarity prevails on the preparedness of state authorities which will monitor the implementation in the selected districts.
The districts are Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh; Panipat and Panchkula in Haryana; Shimla, Solan and Una in Himachal Pradesh; Chhatra, Giridih, East Singbhum, Hazaribagh, Jamtara and Khunti in Jharkhand; Hoshangabad, Harda, Khandwa and Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Amaravati and Latur in Maharashtra; Taran Taran, Pathankot and Mohali in Punjab; and Pali, Jhunjhunu and Kota in Rajasthan.