File Photo: Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha
The Centre today said it has written to Chief Ministers and Union Territory Administrators for Direct Benefit Transfer for kerosene in the accounts of the beneficiaries.
At present, LPG (cooking gas) subsidy is directly transfered to accounts of consumers under PAHAL scheme.
In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said the distribution of kerosene is a matter entirely in the domain of the state government/UT Administrations.
He said, "letters have been written to Chief Ministers/Administrators...for Direct Benefit Transfer in Kerosene."
A pilot project on direct cash transfer in kerosene was initiated in Kotkasim tehsil of Alwar district in Rajasthan.
Mr Sinha further said that in case of food subsidy, the states and UTs have been suggested to opt for DBT or automation of Fair Price Shops.
"For DBT, pre-requisites for the states/UTs are complete digitisation of beneficiary data seeded with available Aadhaar and bank account details of beneficiaries," he said.
Except three UTs (Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Puducherry) no other state/UT has indicated its willingness to implement DBT, he added.
Under DBT, benefits like subsidy are directly transferred into accounts of beneficiaries