By Siddharth Prabhakar
Published: 05th March 2015 06:00 AM
CHENNAI: Applying for a name change on your cooking gas subscription voucher? Be ready to pay not just Rs 1,000 for a pressure cooker that you don’t want, but also an additional amount of Rs.150 as “installation charges” to complete the necessary documentation to register for the PAHAL Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme.
Berlin Moses, who has a connection with a BharatGas agency in Ambattur, was surprised when he was handed the bill for transferring the connection from his father’s name to his. “When I asked them about the fee for the cooker, they said I’d have to pay even if I did not take it home. They refused to finish the documentation if I didn’t pay up,” he said.
Another BharatGas consumer said he felt helpless as the agency in question refused to process his application if he did not pay the additional charge. “I was given two bills: Rs.2,000 for third party name transfer and Rs.1,000 for the cooker,” he said. Over and above this, an ‘installation charge’ was charged. “There was a huge crowd at the agency and I was afraid they might harass me if I complain,” he added.
The area sales manager of BharatGas, under whose administrative control the agency concerned comes, said appliances may be sold only if consumers wished to buy them. “They can’t be forced to buy. We shall look into this complaint,” she said.
Name-change, or regularisation, as it is officially known in Oil Marketing Company terms, is necessary for registering for DBTL, as the name has to match with the bank account and/or Aadhaar number.
There are also allegations that refills requested by consumers, who haven’t registered for DBTL, have been cancelled despite MoS for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, assuring that no consumer may be denied cylinder under the DBTL for not linking the aadhaar/bank account to the LPG ID. “When I raised this with the Indane agency, they said they would send refills only if the consumer registered for DBTL,” a consumer said.