By Express News Service
Published: 14th December 2014 06:18 AM
CHENNAI: Registering online for the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL), to be rolled out from January 1, is not that easy. It is not just a click way as it appears to be. Those opting for the online route are handicapped by lack of procedural information as well as improper co-ordination from the gas agencies.
Consumers like Chennai’s N Ranganathan, after submitting his bank details on the Indane portal last week, discovered that the e-copy of his seeded details to be submitted to his LPG distributor, was completely blank. “I have lodged a complaint, but it has not been resolved for a week now,” he said.
Some of those with Aadhaar numbers, like K Mohan of Madurai finished filling in the details on the website and also received a confirmation message. “But, while verifying on www.mylpg.in, ‘Visit Distributor or Bank’ message was displayed. Why should I visit the distributor? What is the use of online seeding,” exclaimed an exasperated Mohan.
Currently, only two steps of DBTL registration can be completed online. Consumers with Aadhaar can link the latter with the LPG number on rasf.uiadai.gov.in, while those without Aadhaar can submit bank details online.
However, neither process completely eliminates visiting the gas agency, as at least one form will have to be handed in person.
This causes problems since the gas agency staff are themselves not familiar with the procedures as L Anandan discovered when he visited a distributor at Ambattur with a copy of Form 4. “Agency staff were instructed not to receive any form from the consumers. There is no co-ordination between agency staff and the oil company,” he rued.
Oil company officials Express spoke to said that since the UIADAI server was being simultaneously accessed by thousands across the country, it would be a bit slow. “We advise consumers to have patience. The seeding process would take at least 8-10 days to get completed,” an official said.
A gas agency representative said issues are also cropping up on the server with a large number of forms being rejected due to mismatch in consumer details across forms.
Consumer activist T Sadagopan attributed the genuine chaos over internet and other procedures surrounding DBTL to the lack of an awareness campaign. “Since this process is massive, oil companies and Aadhaar officials should have held joint campaigns with volunteers at ward level to educate the masses.
Oil companies should have launched the campaign before the procedure was initiated two weeks back,” he said.
A public demonstration regarding the online applications could have been conducted, he added.
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