DC | 15 hours 37 min ago
Hyderabad: The Centre’s much publicised Direct Benefit Transfer scheme has turned out to be a “Direct Burden Transfer” scheme for hundreds of LPG consumers in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy.
That’s evident from the way the financial burden on consumers has increased from Rs 25 per cylinder to Rs 83 per cylinder since the DBT scheme was launched on June 1.
Consumers are paying Rs 930 per cylinder, while the oil marketing companies are crediting only Rs 435 (per cylinder). So, consumers are forced to shell out Rs 495 to get the refill as against the pre-DBT price of Rs 412.50.
The reason, the subsidy amount of Rs 435 was fixed when the market price of the cylinder was Rs 880, but now it has increased to Rs 916, which is subject to revision every month. Last year, the market price touched Rs 1,020.
Though the original market cost per cylinder is Rs 916, the delivery men collect Rs 930 (per cylinder) from the consumers saying that Rs 920 is the price of the cylinder and Rs 10 is paid as service charges.
Besides, several DBT beneficiaries are yet to receive subsidy amount into their bank accounts although they had received cylinders few weeks ago.
“I paid Rs 930 to get a refill but I received the subsidy amount of Rs 435. What benefit did they transfer me with this scheme,”said P. Murali Mohan, a resident of Chikkadpally.
However, D. Ashok Kumar, president of the Greater Hyderabad LPG Dealers Association, said that consumers had to pay only Rs 916. “If users are paying Rs 930, they should bring it to the notice of the agencies.”