Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) on Wednesday distributed free LPG kits to 132 families residing around its premises under “Smoke Free Village” project funded by its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.
A release from MRPL here said that Moodbidri MLA Umanath Kotian launched the programme for the villagers of Yekkar, Bajpe and Malavoor gram panchayats. Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty, MRPL Managing Director M. Venkatesh, MRPL Director (Finance) A.K. Sahoo and others were present.
The LPG kit comprises one cylinder and a stove, worth about ₹ 4,000, and the company gets the connection through LPG distributors from oil marketing companies towards making surrounding villages smoke-free. This is independent of any other Central or State government schemes.
Besides distributing kits to 132 BPL families, MRPL provided kits to 161 other families in the villages of Chelairu, Soorinje, Permude and Jokatte, which were left out during its previous programme.
The company distributed 372 kits during 2016 and 2017. MRPL said that the beneficiary families had been using firewood and kerosene for cooking purposes all these days.
On the occasion, Ganesh Arbi and Suresh Shetty, presidents of Malavoor and Yekkar gram panchayats, declared their respective villages smoke-free.
