The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : LPG consumers outnumber kerosene users

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 12, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

LPG consumers outnumber kerosene users

By N. Ravi Kumar

CHENNAI, JULY 11. Firewood is the cooking fuel for an overwhelming majority of households in Tamil Nadu, whereas use of the smokeless, eco-friendly, but relatively expensive liquefied petroleum gas is limited, according to the figures returned by the 2001 Census.

The number of households using LPG is, however, more than those relying on kerosene, which is often described as the common man's modern fuel, subsidised and dispensed through the public distribution system. While domestic LPG is also subsidised, there virtually is little restriction on its availability.

As per the final figures of the Census, a majority 64.26 per cent of the 1.41-crore households in the State said they used firewood for cooking purposes, while 13.09 and 19.08 per cent of the households preferred kerosene and LPG.

The details were circulated at a meeting organised by the Directorate of Census Operations here on Saturday. While the house listing operations was carried out in May 2000, the population enumeration was done from February 9 to 28 in 2001.

Besides the three, the conventional and modern sources of cooking fuel used by the households include crop residue (2.42 per cent), cow dung (0.21), coal, lignite and charcoal (0.03), biogas (0.42) and electricity (0.08). While 0.09 per cent said they used fuel other than any of these, 0.33 said they did not cook.

The use of firewood in rural households is higher than the State-wide usage. Close to 86 per cent of the households in rural areas use firewood, whereas only 33.80 preferred it in urban locations. In urban areas, LPG was the choice for 36.78 per cent of the households, while the percentage of those using kerosene was 26.44.

In rural areas, it was 6.46 and 3.58 per cent.

A separate kitchen, a factor that influences the choice of fuel, is available in 67.11 per cent of the total households, with the figure in urban areas being 80.85 per cent.

Almost 13 per cent of the households in the State cook in the open, the Census said.

Admitting that the cost of LPG far outweighed its other advantages for the economically weaker sections of society, a senior official in a national oil company, however, said the popularity of cooking gas had improved.

The key reason for this could be the marketing initiatives of the oil industry, including release of connections across-the-counter, expansion of its distributor network to cater to rural pockets and launch of 5 kg cylinders in rural areas.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu