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
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