New Delhi, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, that this year Government will appoint 10,000 new LPG distributors under a new procedure so as to extend the reach of clean fuel across the country by 2018.

Pradhan added, "The 10,000 new liquified petroleum gas (LPG) dealerships will be on top of around 16,000 existing dealers in the country. We had declared 2016 as the Year of LPG Consumers and this is yet another step in the direction of making clean cooking fuel available to the entire population of the country by 2018, particularly in rural areas".

According to Pradhan, about 2,000 agencies are already in the process of being appointed and the remaining would be completed in two phases.