12 subsidised cylinders and no linkage with Aadhaar cards to bring relief to customers

Even as the written notification is awaited from the company, the 400-odd agencies have been told that citizens will get 12 subsidised cylinders for this year ending March 31 and the same would be implemented from April 1.

“Any citizen, who has availed of nine subsidised cylinders, can get three more subsidised cylinders till March 31 and thereon from April the same system will continue,’’ said Poonawalla.

With just 22 per cent Puneites linking their Aadhaar cards with bank accounts for LPG subsidy and the deadline looming, citizens were hoping for an extension even as oil companies were firm that the remaining 78 per cent would have to pay the market price.

“Although we have not got any official communication, Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has announced the same and we hope to be intimated about the same soon,’’ said an oil company official.

With poor linkage, the citizens would have had to pay the market price for cylinders, which would amount to Rs 1,240 per cylinder as against Rs 451 for the subsidised one.

Agencies — which were inundated with calls on issues of direct bank transfer — will no longer have to be bothered about the issue. Poonawalla added that agencies will now have to focus only on cylinder dispatch and delivery.
“However, those whose Aadhaar card details has been provided will be kept as an additional document for verification,’’ she added.

According to officials, the district had recorded 38.8 per cent Aadhaar linkage, while the bank linkage was just 22 per cent. With the numbers not touching the 50 per cent-mark, the oil companies and agencies were gearing for commotion the next month. Of the total 23.68 lakh customers, 9.18 lakh had Aadhaar numbers and submitted the details, while only 5.28 lakh customers have done the linkage to bank accounts for the subsidy transfer.

Distributors, who were under tremendous stress in the last two to three months, can heave a sigh of relief as they have been spared tedious documentation work. “The government should have given a proper thought before rolling out a programme. The decision saw distributors working late nights to complete the documentation. The citizens also had to run from pillar to post for their Aadhaar cards,’’ said Poonawalla.

Although the government is not calling it a pre-election move, during the All-India Congress Committee session in Delhi, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had stated that nine cylinders were not enough for households and there was a need to increase this quota to 12 cylinders weighing 14.2 kg each.

With a view to cutting its subsidy bill, the government had initially capped the supply of subsidised domestic LPG cylinders to six per household in a year in September 2012. Later, the annual quota was raised to nine in January 2013.