The government announced the launch of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for kerosene subsidy in a bid to cut down the diversion and black marketing of the fuel.
The new scheme will be rolled out in 26 districts across eight states from 1 April, 2016 including Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. The centre has allocated 86.85 lakh kilolitres of subsidised PDS kerosene to states in the current financial year even as total annual consumption stands at 71.3 lakh kilolitres.
“The success of the PAHAL scheme in cooking gas gives an indication of the potential for use of DBT to ensure that genuine beneficiaries get the benefit of subsidy while preventing illicit diversion. Subsidy outgo for kerosene for the financial year 2014-15 was about Rs. 24,799 crore,” the statement said.
In order to incentivise states to implement DBT in kerosene, they will be given cash incentive of 75% of subsidy savings during the first two years, 50% in the third year and 25% in the fourth year. In case some states voluntarily agree to undertake cuts in kerosene allocation beyond the savings due to DBT, a similar incentive will be given to them. The calculation will be based on net savings in kerosene consumption at state level. Thegovernment had launched a similar DBT in LPG across the nation from January 2015 under which subsidy is,directly transferred into the bank accounts of beneficiaries. The centre saved around Rs 14,000 crore last fiscal due to weeding out of the fake and,duplicate LPG connections through DBTL.
