The ambitious scheme was announced by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit while presenting the annual budget for the year 2012-13. An amount of Rs 40 crore has been earmarked to implement the scheme.
As per 2011 Census report, about 1.75 lakh households in the capital rely on kerosene for cooking.
Officials said government decided to launch the scheme as subsidised kerosene often does not reach the intended beneficiaries and end up in the black market.
Government had earlier planned to give cash equivalent of the monthly kerosene subsidy to the beneficiaries.
Every BPL family in the city is entitled to get 22 litres of kerosene per month at Rs 9 per litre against the market rate of Rs 27 to Rs 30 per litre. The subsidy component of kerosene comes to around Rs 18 per litre.
Officials said government has not abandoned the plan to make direct transfer of cash equivalent of the monthly kerosene subsidy to the beneficiaries. The government had planned to directly transfer the amount to the bank account of the female head of the family.
According to a study by National Council of Applied Economic Research, nearly half of the kerosene supplied through PDS in Delhi found its way to black market.
