The country's first smokeless village - Vyachakurahalli in Gauribidanur taluk of Chikkabalapur has entered into the Limca Book of Records-2017.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) piloted the 'Mission Smokeless village' project in this village which is about 75 km from Bengaluru.
After Vyachakurahalli entirely switched to LPG from conventional fuel, Petroleum Ministry declared it as India's first smokeless village in December 2015.
S Varadachari, state level coordinator (Oil Industry) and executive director, Indian Oil said, "It is a proud moment for us and people of Vychakurahalli for entering into the Limca Book of Records-2017 as country's first smokeless village. This will encourage us to continue our endeavor in improving the lives of rural people under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)".
The village has 274 LPG connections under the PMUY and ‘Mission Smokeless village' project. In Karnataka, 5.5 lakh connections have been released under PMUY so far. "Indian Oil pioneered the 'smokeless village' concept to achieve 100% LPG usage across the country, especially in rural parts of the country under the PMUY schemes" he added.