Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay & Ajanta Chakraborty, TNN | Sep 13, 2013, 03.55 AM IST
KOLKATA: If you don't get your 12-digit Aadhaar number by the extended deadline of January 31, be prepared to forgo the subsidy on LPG.
The state was caught off guard last Sunday when the petroleum ministry suddenly publicized the November 1 deadline for transferring LPG subsidy to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Even the state Census Directorate - directed to facilitate the direct-benefit-transfer (DBT) for cooking gas by January - was caught unawares. And that's not good news for consumers.
P K Majumdar, acting director of the Census Directorate, sounded clueless on Thursday. "We have no idea how DBT will be implemented or what steps will be taken to meet the deadline," he said. The directorate is responsible for collecting demographic information and issuing the Aadhaar number in Bengal. Officials shared Majumdar's anxiety since they have managed to generate only about 1.95 crore biometric cards in the 9.1-crore state (July 31 figures). Bengal doesn't even figure on the National Population Register website.
Only five districts - Cooch Behar, Hooghly, Howah, South Dinajpur and Kolkata - will come under DBT for now. The census directorate is most concerned about Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) where the Aadhaar coverage has been dismal. In the city proper, it is 55% and in the overlapping districts of North and South 24-Parganas, it is 7% and 21%.
The data was revealed at a meeting convened by home secretary Basudeb Banerjee with district magistrates, census officials and nodal agencies like ECIL and ITI at Writers' Buildings on Wednesday. Ironically, the most pressing issue - DBT - did not even figure in the meeting.
"We were only told to ensure that Aadhaar numbers are issued to the most residents by February 28," said a district magistrate. A home department official said: "While this deadline for issuing Aadhaar cards was discussed at length, no one talked abut the deadline for opening Aadhaar-linked bank accounts by January 31. Perhaps, the authorities (home secretary and census directorate) are yet to have a plan of action."
Amitava Barua, who is in charge of Aadhaar in the KMC area, does not offer much hope. "Cent per cent coverage by January 31 is impossible. Barely 27 lakh Aadhar cards have been generated and around 24 lakh despatched so far. At least 20% of the addressees haven't got their Aadhaar cards for various reasons," he said.
To add to the unease, none of the officials could say what you need to do to pursue your Aadhaar number. "We have no information on the permanent camps that are supposed to be set up," a census official said.
The market price for cooking gas is around Rs 950 a cylinder. Households are entitled to nine subsidized cylinders (at Rs 450 each) in a year. Once the Aadhaar-LPG scheme becomes mandatory, families will have to pay the full amount and have the subsidy transferred to their bank accounts. But for this, you must get the 12-digit UID number and link it to your bank account and LPG consumer number.
The petroleum ministry notification says those unable meet the November 1 deadline will continue to receive subsidized gas till January 31 next year.
LPG dealers say most consumers would have exhausted their quota of subsidized cylinders by December this year. "I guess the few that cannot will have to do without the subsidy," said Bijon Bihari Biswas, general secretary of West Bengal LPG Dealers' Association.
Sukamal Kumar Sen, secretary of Bharat Gas Distributors' Welfare Association (eastern region), said, "The oil companies are supposed to give us the forms for distribution by September 15. We can ensure consumers submit the forms well in advance to roll out the system on November 1." But this won't help unless people get their Aadhaar numbers.
