TNN | Oct 19, 2014, 01.34AM IST
NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday said cooking gas consumers will be able to get subsidy directly in their bank accounts from November 15 even if they don't have Aadhar numbers.
The Narendra Modi government will re-launch the Modified Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme-LPG, a move which is expected to ease the subsidy burden and help in better targeting of subsidies.
The scheme will be initially re-launched in 54 districts from mid-November and in rest of the country from January 1. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by the PM.
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"The UPA government had only linked it (DBT) to the Aadhaar platform. There were some legal issues including some court orders, which had prevented the effective implementation of the scheme. "...therefore we have decided that in addition to the Aadhaar platform all those who have a bank account will also get the LPG subsidy in their accounts directly," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters.
The cabinet has revisited the scheme design and processes and after thorough review, it has approved the Modified DBTL which will alleviate the hardships that LPG consumers faced in in the earlier scheme, a government statement said.
It said the subsidy per domestic subsidized cylinder shall be fixed and all LPG consumers who join the modified DBTL scheme in future can receive LPG cash subsidy.
They can do so by linking their Aadhaar number to the LPG and bank database as the primary option or directly into the bank account without necessarily linking it with the use of Aadhaar as the secondary option, the statement said.
"This will ensure that no consumer is denied LPG subsidy for want of Aadhaar number," the statement said.
All LPG consumers who had already joined the scheme solely based on Aadhaar number will start getting subsidy in their Aadhaar linked bank accounts after the scheme is launched.
The government said LPG consumers will get a grace period of 3 months during which consumers who have joined the scheme will get the subsidy in their bank account and others will continue to get cylinders at subsidized price.
"LPG consumers who do not join the scheme after the 3 month grace period, will be eligible for an additional subsidy parking Period of 3 months. During this period, LPG cylinders to all such consumers will be supplied at market price, but the subsidy due on all LPG supplies will be credited to the bank account as soon as consumer joins the scheme in this period and as per entitlement," the statement said.
LPG consumers who will now join the modified scheme in future will get a permanent advance towards the purchase of the first market priced cylinder equal to the fixed subsidy per cylinder, it added.
A revamped grievance system would be set up to attend to consumer complaints.
The Modified DBTL scheme will ensure that entitlement of LPG consumers is not diverted for ineligible purpose and public money can be better utilised.
The government has asked LPG consumers to join the scheme to protect their entitlement of subsidized cylinders.
Jaitley said the scheme would be implemented in a mission mode.
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