JAMMU, APRIL 1: Crime Branch, an elite investigation wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police continued conducting searches at the premises of LPG dealers at various places in Jammu division of the Union Territory for the second day on Friday.
Pointing out that they searches continued at 14 places including Poonch, Mendhar, Surankote, Rajouri, Darhal, Manjakote, Thanamandi, Budhal, besides Udhampur and Kud, sources said that the Crime Branch action followed complaints of irregularities into the distribution of LPG connection under PM’s Ujwala scheme to families living below the poverty line. The scheme was launched in J&K during September 2016 by the then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti along with Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Under the Ujwala Yojna, one LPG connection was to be provided to one BPL family after seeding the adhaar card details of all the family members. Moreover, these were to be provided free of cost to those who did not have any LPG connection.
According to complaints, the free LPG connections shown to have been provided to BPL families by some dealers in J&K existed only on papers. Giving details, sources said that the dealers allegedly seeded the adhaar card details of BPL families, but did not provide them the LPG connections as they already had one. In cases where these were provided, these were not free as the beneficiary families were made to pay for it, sources added.
Senior Crime Branch officials confirmed that they conducted searches at the premises of some LPG dealers following complaints about distribution of LPG connections under Ujwala Yojna. These are part of the preliminary enquiry by Crime Branch following any complaint, they said, adding that formal FIR will be registered once any irregularity is found.