DC | L. Venkat Ram Reddy | 5 hours 27 min ago
Hyderabad: The “Direct Transfer of Cash Subsidy” scheme for domestic LPG consumers will come into force from May 15 in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, but will cover less than half the consumers.
While there are a total of 25 lakh domestic LPG connections in these districts, only 45 per cent of them have obtained Aadhaar cards so far. The Aadhaar linkage with bank accounts is even worse, with just about 20 per cent of LPG consumers having Aadhaar cards submitting details to banks.
Citizens are running from pillar to post to get their Aadhaar cards, with the May 15 deadline fast approaching. But the civil supplies department which is responsible for Aadhaar, is doing nothing to mitigate the anxiety of lakhs of consumers.
In an attempt to force people to get the Aadhaar cards, the government has linked it to the one commodity no one can do without — cooking gas. Consumers could lose the subsidy on the cylinder amounting to nearly Rs 460 if they don’t have the card by May 15.
The bungling in what the Central government considers its flagship scheme is huge. Thousands of people in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, which have been chosen for the pilot project, have had to enrol for Aadhaar cards multiple times since 2010 because their cards have not been delivered.
The UIDAI officials last month admitted that enrolment data prior to April 2012 has been lost, and has asked people to go through the arduous pro-cess all over again. “When I could not get the card even after I enrolled in December 2011, when can I expect my card if I enrol now? I re-enrolled in last week of April. There is no information on the status of my card on Aadhaar website. It has become a job for me and my family to run around Aadhaar centres,” said B. Krishna Chaitanya of Somajiguda.
Statistics
- 25 lakh: Total domestic LPG connections in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.
- 10 lakh: Number of LPG consumers covered by Aadhaar.
- 3 lakh: Number of LPG consumers who submitted Aadhaar details at banks.
- In Hyderabad, a total of 58 lakh enrolled for Aadhaar and 48 lakh UID numbers have been generated. Only 35 lakh received Aadhaar cards so far.
- In Ranga Reddy district, 39,73,000 people enrolled against a population of 52,96,396. Officials generated UID numbers for 28.5 lakh people and 24 lakh are yet to be issued Aadhaar cards.
How will subsidy be credited, ask people
The DTCS scheme has be-en giving anxious mome-nts to consumers from middle and lower income groups. There is no clarity on when the subsidy amount would be credited directly into the bank acc-ounts of the consumers.
According to gas agencies, the consumers have to purchase the cylinder at the market price of nearly Rs 900. The subsidy amount of Rs 460 will be credited by the OMCs to their bank account later.
However, the middle and lower income group consumers want the subsidy amount to be credited immediately after the booking of a cylinder or prior to the delivery of cylinder at home. Most people from these sections feel they cannot afford to pay `900 at the time of delivery and then wait for the OMCs to credit the subsidy amount.
“It will be difficult for people from lower income groups to purchase cylinders at Rs 900. For some, even paying the existing Rs 412 is difficult. They often borrow money from neighbours or friends to pay the gas delivery boys. There have been several instances of the delivery boys taking the cylinders back without delivering them, as the consumers had failed to pay the full amount,” said P. Mallesham, who works as a lift boy at a government office and stays in a slum at Musheerabad.
Next: Ground reality still unaddressed
Ground reality still unaddressed
Officials of the Unique Identification Authority of India and the state government have failed to address the “ground realities” with regard to the Aadhaar-LPG linkage.
While officials claim the domestic LPG consumers can link their gas connections with Aadhaar just by submitting their enrolment number, the gas agencies are insisting on photocopies of the Aadh-aar card for the purpose. In fact, the application format issued by the oil marketing companies stipulate the submission of a photocopy of Aadhaar card at the gas agencies to claim the subsidy.
This has become a big problem for a majority of LPG consumers in Hyde-rabad and Ranga Reddy as lakhs of consumers are yet to get the cards.
The civil supplies department had set up an exclusive Aadhaar enrolment centre to cover all the LPG consumers at the earliest. Enrolment numbers were issued to these people and they were told the number could be submitted to the gas agencies to complete Aadhaar-LPG linkage. However, the employees at the gas agencies are accepting enrolment number only for ‘information purposes’ and not to complete the linkage.
Consumers are being asked to submit a photocopy of their Aadhaar cards after they receive them by post to complete the process. The contention of gas agencies is that there is no provision to complete Aadhaar-LPG linkage process with the enrolment number.
