 "Aadhaar cuts down LPG irregularities")
While a debate raging on the Centre's ambitious unique identity project, and the apex court passing an interim order restraining the government from making Aadhaar card mandatory for the transfer of social welfare benefits to beneficiaries, its introduction has at least brought about one good - it has minimised irregularities and misuse of LPG supplies.
Aadhar numbers were made mandatory for LPG supply for domestic use in 2013 under the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme (DBTS) so that the subsidy part of the cost could be directly credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries.
It was rolled out in 20 districts, including Mysore.
Wherever the process has been completed, it has come to light that a good proportion of households have multiple connections, and of different oil marketing companies.
There are several cases of two or more connections in different names of their family members, one each in husband and wife's name, father and son or daughter's names.
This is landing such LPG consumers in trouble. They now have to give up all except one connection. "Customers may have obtained a second connection from a different oil company when supply was short or for other reason," said the spokesperson of the Venus Gas Service, Mysore.
"After the Aadhaar linkage, all such dual accounts are being blocked, leaving such customers without LPG cylinder supply. For restoration of supply, such consumers must keep only one account that they consider the best and surrender the extra connections."
"They have to give an intention letter for any one connection, keep the account they have and hand over KYC (Know Your Customer) form to the agency they prefer. Following this, their Aadhar number will be uploaded and their account regularised," he told Business Standard, showing a bunch of papers of those who have multiple connections.
"There are hundreds of such consumers. The list continues to grow. We are still receiving lists of more and more consumers with multiple connections," However, many of them are surrendering their additional connections," the proprietor added.
Aadhar numbers were made mandatory for LPG supply for domestic use in 2013 under the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme (DBTS) so that the subsidy part of the cost could be directly credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries.
It was rolled out in 20 districts, including Mysore.
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However, even after six months, a large number of consumers are yet to fully follow the procedure in linking their Aadhaar numbers to their bank accounts required for the transfer of the subsidy amount to their accounts.
Wherever the process has been completed, it has come to light that a good proportion of households have multiple connections, and of different oil marketing companies.
There are several cases of two or more connections in different names of their family members, one each in husband and wife's name, father and son or daughter's names.
This is landing such LPG consumers in trouble. They now have to give up all except one connection. "Customers may have obtained a second connection from a different oil company when supply was short or for other reason," said the spokesperson of the Venus Gas Service, Mysore.
"After the Aadhaar linkage, all such dual accounts are being blocked, leaving such customers without LPG cylinder supply. For restoration of supply, such consumers must keep only one account that they consider the best and surrender the extra connections."
"They have to give an intention letter for any one connection, keep the account they have and hand over KYC (Know Your Customer) form to the agency they prefer. Following this, their Aadhar number will be uploaded and their account regularised," he told Business Standard, showing a bunch of papers of those who have multiple connections.
"There are hundreds of such consumers. The list continues to grow. We are still receiving lists of more and more consumers with multiple connections," However, many of them are surrendering their additional connections," the proprietor added.