The Common Service Centres (CSC), an Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, on Thursday announced that it plans to set up one lakh LPG distribution centres across India, with focus on rural and semi-urban areas, by March 2022.
So far the CSC has opened around 21,000 LPG centres in all the states in tie-up with three government oil marketing companies – BPCL, HPCL and IOC.
“Today, we have reached a major landmark of 10,000 LPG distribution centres in tie-up with BPCL. We are fast expanding our network of CSCs distributing LPG cylinders mainly in rural areas. We have around 6,000 LPG distribution centres operating in tie-up with HPCL and over 5,000 with IOC. By the end of the current financial year, we will have one lakh LPG distribution centres operational across India,” said CSC SPV Managing Director, Dr Dinesh Tyagi.
CSC has opened these LPG distribution centres in all the states, where the top five states with maximum number of centres are UP, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.
“Our LPG centres aim to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households and replace the unhealthy conventional cooking fuels such as firewood, cow dung, etc. Within poorer households, women often face a collective burden of farm work, housework and family care,” CSC SPV CEO Sanjay Kumar Rakesh sad.
Commenting on CSC Bharat Gas Distribution Centres reaching the 10,000 distribution centre milestone, BPCL Executive Director Santosh Kumar said: “CSC VLEs should organise health camps to create awareness on health benefits among villagers of using LPG instead of coal as well as safety issues. The customer contact will also be helpful in creating business for VLEs. CSCs have played a significant role in promoting rural enterprise as well as digital inclusion, mainly for rural citizens. To fulfil the last mile gap, the role of CSCs will be very significant.”