Half of urban slum households use LPG despite having connections: survey

Only half of urban slum households surveyed in six states exclusively use liquid petroleum gas for cooking despite 86 per cent of these families having LPG connections, a study has found.

Researchers associated with the survey have cited the poor doorstep delivery of LPG cylinders at slums and the sharp rise in cooking gas prices as some of the reasons why many families turn to alternative cooking fuels.

They have emphasised that these alternative fuels can cause severe indoor air pollution and leave households more vulnerable to Covid infection.

The Cooking Energy Access Survey, 2020, was conducted by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which together account for nearly a quarter of India’s urban slum population.