New Delhi [India], June 17 (ANI): Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, on Tuesday held a meeting with the officials of the Ministry and Chief Managing Directors (CMDs) of India's energy sector Public Sector Units (PSUs) to discuss policy of portability from one OMC to another for the consumers.

In a social media post on X, the Union Minister shared that the number of LPG connections in the country has risen to over 33 crore from 14 crore in 2014, pushing overall coverage from 62 per cent before 2016 to over 100 per cent now.

'As the number of LPG dealerships increases to more than 25,570 to cater to the rising demand, in a meeting with senior officials of @PetroleumMin and CMDs of India's energy sector PSUs, we discussed the policy of portability from one OMC to another for the consumers,' the Minister said in the post.

As per the post, a major contributor to this transformation has been the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), under which more than 10.33 crore free LPG connections have been distributed to beneficiaries in both rural and urban areas.

To meet the surging demand for cooking gas, the number of LPG dealerships has also increased to more than 25,570 across the country.

Puri noted that the government is exploring new policies to enhance consumer convenience, including the introduction of portability between Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

The Union Minister further added that in an effort to strengthen last-mile delivery, OMCs have engaged 22,443 Common Service Centres (CSCs) and Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs), which together delivered 58 lakh cylinders during FY 2024-25 to remote and underserved regions.

The Minister also reviewed the progress of India's energy transition efforts with officials from the Petroleum Ministry and PSU heads. He revealed that solar power infrastructure has been installed at nearly 79,000 out of the country's 88,000+ fuel retail outlets. These installations range in capacity from below 1KW to more than 3KW, helping reduce the carbon footprint of fuel stations.

'Even as India moves ahead with full momentum towards the energy security goals under the leadership of PM @narendramodi Ji, we continue to focus on green, sustainable and innovative sources of energy,' Puri affirmed in his post.

'In a meeting with @PetroleumMin officials and captains of PSU-OMCs we reviewed the process of setting of solar power infrastructure at the vast network of more than 88,000 retail outlets across the country,' the post added.

Talking to ANI on Monday, Puri said that India is putting in all kinds of effort to ramp up its own traditional fossil-based energy production, and the latest push is to dig deep in the Andaman region.

Puri outlined several measures the government has been taking over the years for exploration and production. He also noted that the exploration in the Andamans is pointing to 'good news' and may end up becoming India's 'Guyana moment'. (ANI)