Bengaluru, DHNS: Educating villagers on merits of using cooking gas pays dividends. Karnataka has the largest number of smokeless villages in India (at 64), said Indrajit Bose, a top official of Indian Oil, on Monday.

Bose, Executive Director (Corporate Communications and Branding), Head Office, Mumbai of Indian Oil, was speaking to mediapersons here.

He said that across India 120 villages are smokeless, of which 64 are in Karnataka. Other states like Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat too are doing well. Two gram panchayats - Hunsur and Neelasandra have become completely smokeless.

The first village to be smokeless was Vychakurahalli in Gauribidanur taluk, Chikkaballapur district.

Smokeless villages are those where all households do not use conventional chullas with firewood or dung cakes as fuel. They have shifted to LPG connections and stoves for cooking.

The districts covered include Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Raichur, Haveri, Hassan, Mysuru, Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Chamarajanagar, Yadgir, Ramanagar, Mandya, Davangere and Shivamogga.

“There are 6.33 lakh villages in India, of which 29,430 are in Karnataka. Our target is to cover at least 250 villages by the end of this financial year. The idea of smokeless villages started on November 4, 2015 and till December 15, 2015, we have covered 64. We are in the process of declaring Mysuru city smokeless,” said S Varadachari, general manager in-charge, Karnataka of Indian Oil.

Varadachari said LPG distributors were given the task of convincing villagers to shift from conventional cooking modes to LPG. The distributors did this with the help of panchayats and State government officials.

They explained to women and children that exposure to biomass or solid fuels in kitchen is equal to smoking 400 cigarettes per day, which can lead to severe health hazards. It is also time consuming, as one has to search fuel and ignite it.

The economics involved was also explained. Those falling below poverty line category do not have to pay the initial deposit for cylinder and stove. The option of using a five-kilogram cylinder was also offered.

To help villagers get LPG connections, some NGOs, rich people around villages and gas agencies have helped financially.

While providing initial connection is a challenge, a bigger task is ensuring that these villages do not switch back to conventional cooking modes. To ensure this, the team is already working on modules of reviewing use and conducting health check-ups every three months, said Abhijit Dey, DGM(LPG), Karnataka, Indian Oil.

Present on the occasion were gram panchayat heads from villages which have become smokeless and LPG distributors. They shared their field experiences of the challenges they faced while convincing people.

Two common fears among women was saving money for the LPG?cylinders from their drunkard husbands and gas leaks that may lead to fire accidents.