Express News Service : kolkata, Sun Nov 03 2013, 03:03 hrs
Since yesterday's rolling out of scheme of transferring LPG subsidy directly into a customer's bank account, only a few have shown interest — about five to ten per cent — in getting their Aadhaar number linked to their bank accounts.
This lack of interest among consumers has left the gas distributors worried who already face the challenge of not many customers having the Aadhaar card in the first place.
"Then there are many who have an Aadhaar card but no bank account," said Sushanta Mukherjee, president, West Bengal LPG Distributors' Forum, who informed that the Aadhaar enrollment progress in the state is "not very encouraging".
Giving details, general secretary of Indane Distributors' Association, Bijan Behari Biswas said: "About five per cent of our consumers in Kolkata have submitted the relevant forms on the first day (November 1, the day the scheme was rolled out) to get the Aadhar number linked with the bank account. In Howrah and the Coochbehar, the percentage is slightly higher ( 7 and 15 per cent, respectively) because of the early start of the process there."
He also said that there are many who have submitted their forms to the association but not to the bank, adding that gas distributors should follow the company directive irrespective of whether Aadhaar card are linked or not and continue with the enrollment till the ministry decides otherwise.
The petroleum ministry, in a recent notification, allowed consumers a three-month period to get their Aadhaar number linked with the bank accounts and submit the details to the LPG distributors to not only avail the subsidy but get the amount directly credited to their bank account. Most distributors, however. feel that the deadline should be extended.
While Mukherjee ruled out the possibility of the state managing to "cover 100 per cent Aadhaar enrollment", saying "there is no guarantee it could be done in three months' time", Biswas said to meet the January 31 target of getting the consumers' Aadhaar number linked to their bank account "would be a tall order given the low percentage of citizens who own the card in the first place".
"Only about 25 per cent of eligible citizens have received the card after so many years of its implementation. It is highly unlikely that all of them would get it by January 31, 2014, the deadline set by the petroleum ministry," he said.
The number of consumers queuing up at the distributor's office and the bank to avail the benefits of the scheme dipped after the SC verdict, which ruled against making the Aadhar card a mandatory requirement.
"We now wait for the next SC hearing on November 6 when the final verdict will be out. People may start flocking to the distributors after that," said Sanjay Agarwal, zonal secretary of All India HP Gas Dealers' Association.
Defending the scheme despite the visible signs of it not producing the desired result, Nimai Chowdhury, a south Kolkata resident who is a school teacher, still believes the "scheme has not completely failed".
"It is an effective way of ensuring that the subsidised cylinders reach the right person and black marketing of cylinders are kept in check to a large extent. Even if the Supreme Court dismisses the Aadhar linking, the ministry will look for an alternative to return the subsidy amount to consumers," Chowdhury said.
