New Delhi, May 20 (PTI) The government's e-services delivery arm CSC SPV on Thursday said it plans to set up 1 lakh LPG distribution centres across India, with focus on rural and semi-urban areas, by March 2022.

The CSC SPV further said it has opened around 21,000 LPG centres across states in tie up with three government oil marketing companies -- BPCL, HPCL and IOC.

"Today, we have reached a major landmark of 10,000 LPG distribution centres in tie up with BPCL. We have around 6,000 LPG distribution centres operating in tie up with HPCL and over 5,000 with IOC.

"By the end of the current financial year we will have 1 lakh LPG distribution centres operational across India," CSC SPV Managing Director Dinesh Tyagi said in a statement.

CSC has opened these LPG distribution centres in all the states. The top five states with the maximum number of these centres are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.

"Our focus is to reach the rural hinterland where people are still dependent on firewood and other non-green sources of fuel for cooking. The CSCs will help beneficiaries to provide the LPG cylinder at their doorsteps through our Digital Seva Portal.

"Today CSCs are helping in booking new LPG connections (Ujjwala and General category), booking of LPG refills (14.2 kilogram cylinders) and supply and distribution of LPG cylinders (storage up to 100 Kgs,) through CSCs," Tyagi said.

According to CSC SPV CEO Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, LPG centres managed by CSC aim to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households and replace the unhealthy conventional cooking fuels such as firewood and cow dung.

"Within poorer households, women often face a burden - farm work, housework and family care. Most women die prematurely because of illnesses arising from open and polluting cooking fire sources. In this context, our LPG service will play a vital role in women empowerment in rural areas," Rakesh said.

BPCL Executive Director Santosh Kumar said the CSC village level entrepreneurs (VLEs) should organise health camps to create awareness on health benefits of using LPG instead of coal as well as safety issues.

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