Fri,Dec 7 2012:New
Delhi: Shoddy implementation of the government’s new quota system for
subsidized cooking gas has resulted in chaos. There’s confusion about
how many subsidized cylinders a consumer is entitled to in the remaining
six months of 2012-13 since the scheme was announced on September 13,
2012.
That day’s government release was unambiguous. It said:
“The number of subsidized LPG cylinders available to each consumer in
the remaining part of the current financial year will be three.” But
some dealers believe that consumers have already run out of their quota,
while some others insist that unless consumers fill up the KYC form,
cylinders can’t be given to them.
Similarly, there’s confusion
over what it takes to fill up the KYC (know-your-customer) form. Ask
Ananya Gupta of Mumbai’s Matunga. She was suddenly asked to produce her
marriage certificate, PAN card, bank account details and the original
registration book by her dealer for her KYC form or face discontinuation
of gas supply.
Original registration book? Is that the blue
book that most consumers have misplaced? Questions such as these are
redundant because the KYC form makes no such demand. It requires two
things: identity proof and
address proof. And for this driving licence, passport, ration card,
phone or electricity bill, Adhaar card and several other ordinary things
will suffice.
But dealers don’t know or pretend not to. P N
Seth, vice-president of the All-India LPG Dealers’ Association, for
instance, doesn’t know about the three-cylinder quota in the six
remaining months of the year since September. He said, “Most consumers
have completed their quota and are now buying non-subsidized gas.”
All-India
Indane Distributors’ Association president A Ramachandran said
consumers were “not cooperating”. He said, “If they don’t submit the KYC
form by year end (the new deadline), the connections would be blocked.”
An Indane dealer in Anna Salai, Chennai, helpfully added: “Once
a connection is blocked, it can only be unlocked after government
permission.”
WHO NEEDS TO FILL KYC FORM? 1 If your name appears in oil company’s transparency portal under ‘multiple connection holder’ head. Dealers too have this list 2 If you are applying for a new cooking gas connection 3 If you want to transfer or regularize existing gas connections
KYC
(Know Your Consumer) form has to be submitted along with proof of
identity and address for updating your address with distributor Winter of discontent for LPG consumers in the hill states
In
this confusion over gas supplies, a black market in cylinders is
flourishing. Some consumers said they were buying cylinders well above
the non-subsidized price range of Rs 885-950 band (depending on VAT) per
cylinder.
A consumer in Delhi’s Alaknanda area, Mitashi Saxena,
was unsure about whether she was required to fill a KYC form or not,
and wondered whether she would get subsidized cylinders next year.
“We’re a family of eight and have two kitchens. But we still don’t know
whether we need to fill the form. And our distributor doesn’t seem to
know either,’’ she said. Another resident complains of delayed service.
Bangalore
homes are no exception. Suguna Ganapathy of Jakkur said, “I’ve called
the distributor a number of times. He asks me whether I have second gas
connection and to surrender it if I do. I am confused and helpless,” she
said. Krishna Moorthy from Adyar in Chennai said, “I surrendered my
additional connection and submitted the KYC form to the dealer, but the
distributor is still not giving me refills.”
For people in hill
states like Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where
families need more fuel to keep warm, it’s going to be a winter of
discontent. “We’ve not been contacted
by our dealer and run out of out quota. We’re planning to spend some
time with relatives in the plains,” said Shivani Joshi of Nainital.
In
Chandigarh, too, large families that don’t have separate kitchens on
different floors, have been jolted by the new condition.
Lucknow
housewife Rita Singh spent several tense days when the cylinder did not
fetch up even eight days after booking – as against the normal period
of 48 hours. “When Iasked, they said most of their staff was engaged in
KYC verification,” she said. A visit to any gas agency here will explain
the delay. The person who used to book the cylinders is multi-tasking –
preparing booking slips, attending complaints, distributing KYC forms
and answering queries of confused consumers.
(Inputs from Richi
Verma in Delhi, Shariq Majeed in Ludhiana, Chittaranjan Tembhekarin
Mumbai,Christin Mathew Philipin Chennai)
Source:TIMES NEWS NETWORK
யாழ்.பல்கலைக்கழக
மாணவர்களை பயங்கரவாத தடைச்சட்டத்தின் கீழ் கைது செய்து சிறைகளில் அடைத்து
வைத்துள்ள சம்பவம் தொடர்பில் நடவடிக்கை எடுக்காது ஐக்கிய நாடுகள் சமை
உட்பட சர்வதேசம் வேடிக்கை பார்த்துக்கொண்டிருக்கின்றது. என்று மறுமலர்ச்சி
திராவிட முன்னேற்ற கழகத்தின் பொதுச் செயலாளர் வைகோ தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.
