With a sincere intention to help Delhi government to make Delhi a kerosene-free city, Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily yesterday agreed to hike the financial contribution of government-run oil companies to allow them to offer free LPG connections to poor households that are currently using kerosene as cooking fuel.

The development will allow the Delhi government to re-start its ambitious kerosene-free city scheme under which around 3.56 lakh economically weak households will receive free LPG cylinder plus a gas stove.

The oil companies recently increased the security deposit for a new LPG connection from Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,600. But it is still considerably down from security deposit for a regular connection. The Delhi government and oil PSUs will foor the bill for the new LPG connections.

Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit also requested Moily to make sure supply of gas to Bawana power plant because production of power at the plant remained harshly affected because of ongoing shortage of fuel.

Dikshit asked the petroleum minister to supply 1.4 Million Metric Standard Cubic Meter of gas to Bawana plant per day as soon as possible. The petroleum minister assured the Delhi chief minister that he was focusing on gas supply to the power plants and that the problem would be settled soon. Bawana power plant has the potential to generate 750MW of power, but it is currently generating just around 250MW of power.