The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for the LPG (cooking gas) consumers will be launched in 20 districts on 1st of June this year, the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The launch of the much-hyped scheme would allow the government to put subsidy cash directly into the beneficiaries' bank accounts, which as per Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily, will help in curbing leakages and black-marketing.

The Minister also announced that LPG consumers would get a grace period of three months, starting June 1, to get their Aadhaar numbers and also get them seeded with their respective bank accounts and then get them registered with the oil marketing companies.

Speaking on the topic, Mr. Moily said, "They [consumers] should link their Aadhaar number with their bank account by visiting their branch and then provide Aadhaar numbers to the LPG distributors for linking with the LPG consumer number."

Under the scheme, subsidy eligible on each LPG cylinder, up to the cap of nine cylinders per year, would be directly transferred to consumers' Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts.

As soon as the eligible consumers will buy the first cylinder at the market rate, subsidy eligible at time of delivery would get credited in their bank accounts.