LUCKNOW, Oct. 15 -- Even as the UP government has sanctioned Rs 1,500 crore for distributing free LPG refills to Ujjwala beneficiaries on Diwali, with chief minister Yogi Adityanath slated to kick off the distribution at an event on Wednesday, over 60 lakh women may still be left out of the festive relief due to their pending e-KYC details. The verification process, which has been continuing for nearly two years, has gradually reduced the number of unverified beneficiaries, but a substantial section - 33% is yet to be cleared. As a result, these Ujjwala beneficiaries are unlikely to receive the benefit during the upcoming Diwali distribution. There are 1.85 crore Ujjwala beneficiaries in UP, and they regularly receive the subsidy LPG cylinder regularly, but the UP government has made the e-KYC mandatory for availing free cylinders, one each before Diwali and Holi every year. "Till date, 1.24 crore of the total 1.85 crore beneficiaries in UP have completed their e-KYC becoming eligible for two free LPG refills from the state government. e-KYC details of 61 lakh of them are still incomplete, and this effectively means, they will miss out on UP government's free LPG refilling," said Manik Biswas, state coordinator for Ujjwala. Launched in May 2016, the Prime Minister's Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has provided major relief to rural and underprivileged households by offering clean cooking fuel in place of firewood, charcoal and cow dung. The scheme has been credited with improving indoor air quality and the health of women and children across millions of families. "UP has emerged as one of the leading states in implementing the Ujjwala scheme, with about 1.86 crore beneficiaries having received LPG connections. The state government has reinforced its commitment to the programme's social and economic objectives by announcing a subsidy of Rs 1,500 per cylinder annually, in addition to two free cylinders under the current initiative," said Anamika Singh, commissioner food and civil supplies. The free refills were part of the BJP's manifesto in the 2022 assembly polls and the government has been making budgetary allocation every year since. According to her, the free cylinder refill distribution will take place in two phases - from August to December 2025 in the first phase and from January to March 2026 in the second. However, the e-KYC condition and tardy progress in its completion have deprived lakhs of beneficiaries of the benefit. Biswas said oil companies regularly held camps up to block level to complete beneficiaries' e-KYC but even then not all turned up at camps. "Since the Ujjwala scheme targets poor households, a large number of its beneficiaries are migrant workers who move to other states, which is one of the key reasons for low e-KYC coverage, though substantial progress has been made over time," he said. Principal secretary (food and civil supplies) Ranvir Prasad said e-KYC is mandatory for all DBT-based welfare schemes. "We cannot say that all 61 lakh Ujjwala beneficiaries will be deprived of the benefit, as many of them may no longer exist on the ground," he added. The e-KYC, he stressed, was a continious process and those left out would be covered in the months to come....