Clean cooking fuel is still inaccessible to a large number of people, even as nearly 80 per cent of rural households continue to depend on firewood for cooking, Chief Conservator of Forests Krishna D. Udapudi has said. Speaking at the inaugural session of a workshop for beneficiaries of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families on the safe use of LPG here on Monday, Mr. Udapudi said that of 3.72 lakh Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families in the district, 1.86 lakh were still dependent on firewood for cooking.
He said that using clean fuel for cooking was important from the health and environmental point of view. Therefore, it was important to see that clean fuel was made available to all the families in the rural areas. In 2014-15, the government embarked on a scheme to distribute LPG cylinder and stove free to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families having no access to this facility. This scheme should be made more popular and its benefits should reach the maximum number of the target groups.
Besides, it was important to train the beneficiaries on the safe and proper use of the LPG facility provided by the government. As many as 4,332 beneficiaries have been provided free LPG cylinders in the Dharwad forest range so far, he said.
Earlier, inaugurating the programme, Dharwad Taluk Panchayat president Mallappa Bhavikatti said that the government’s scheme to distribute LPG cylinder and stove had benefited many Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families. It would be better if the government extended this scheme to all Below Poverty Line families irrespective of caste and creed. All citizens should have the right to use clean fuel, he said.
