Published: 04th December 2014 06:00 AM
Yet another innovative government scheme is getting choked by India’s red tape that has left the common man perplexed, particularly with a deadline looming large. It has also put a big question mark over the timely implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL) that aims at paying domestic consumers of LPG subsidy they are entitled to through bank accounts.
Doubts are being raised about if the beneficiaries will be able to sync their bank accounts with gas connections before January.
Going by government announcements, linking bank accounts with gas connections should be a cinch. But in reality, it is turning out to be a nightmare for many, particularly those in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder, to whom subsidy matters a lot. People complain that staff at the bank branches and the LPG agency offices—assigned to receive the forms—are clueless and are of little help in clearing doubts.
Like any other government announcement, staff responsible for the implementation are the last to know about the nitty-gritty, now too.
Even if bank staff are conversant with basic procedures, some customers can knock them off their perch with queries. For instance, if a 50-year-old gas connection in a joint family is registered in the name of a head of the family’s father, who passed away 20 years ago, how can the household get the subsidy? Or, what happens to a woman who booked the gas connection decades ago and then changed her name, and has a bank account in the new name?
Customers allege that bank staff also bluntly refuse to take the forms, picking holes and demanding needless documents. Some banks even insisted on an Aadhaar card, triggering a needless scramble for it. When this has happened despite the government giving an option for gas consumers without an Aadhaar card to link their gas connections with bank accounts through a simple procedure, isn’t it time we directly deal with red tape?