Muzaffarpur (Bihar), April 20 (IANS) A man in Bihar's Muzaffarpur has expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing a transformational change in the life of his family after receiving a gas cylinder under the Central government's flagship scheme --Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

Launched for countless economically poor families, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has proved to be a boon for the family of Kishore Razak.

Due to the gas cylinder received under this welfare scheme, earlier Razak's family used to burn wood to cook food which released smoke for which he has expressed his gratitude to PM Modi.

Budhni Devi, Kishore Razak's mother, who lives in Balkhana locality of Muzaffarpur, finally received a gas cylinder and a stove under the Ujjwala scheme, which has brought back prosperity to her family.

Earlier, Budhni Devi used to cook food by burning firewood. However, after Ujjwala scheme was launched by PM Modi nearly nine years ago, her family availed of its benefits to get rid of the smoke-filled chulhas.

Kishore Razak told IANS: "Earlier food was cooked on a stove made up of wood in their house, which used to take a lot of time. But, later my mother availed the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and she did not have to spend a single rupee to avail this welfare scheme."

He also added: "Under the Ujjwala scheme, my family received a gas cylinder and a stove, with the help of which food started getting cooked on time. Earlier, when my family used to cook food on a wooden stove, our house used to get filled with smoke and we also had to face the problem of irritation in eyes. There was also a fear of fire breaking out in our house anytime.

Razak said: "I express my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, because of whom poor families like us were able to receive the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana."

"I want Narendra Modi to remain the Prime Minister of the country so that poor families can avail the benefit of such welfare schemes launched by the Central government across the country," he added.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 1, 2016, to distribute 50 million LPG connections to women of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. A budgetary allocation of Rs 80 billion was made for the scheme. The scheme was replaced by the Ujjwala Yojana 2.0 in 2021. Although the scheme has expanded access to clean cooking technologies, the use of polluting fuels remains common, particularly in rural India.