The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Plan to regulate usage of LPG

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Saturday, May 10, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Plan to regulate usage of LPG

Staff Reporter

Sequel to complaints of diversion of cylinders

Monitoring cells on water supply opened
East Godavari stands second under NREGS

Kakinada: District Collector Gopalakrishna Dwivedi on Friday said that delayed supply of LPG cylinders has been a persistent problem and preventing at least five to 10 percent of the allotted quota of LPG to the black market would solve the problem to a large extent. He said an action plan was being worked out to regulate the usage of LPG and it would be implemented in a few weeks. Addressing media persons at the Court Hall here on Friday, Mr. Dwivedi acknowledged the fact that getting LPG refills continues to be problematic for many consumers in spite of regular monitoring by the departments concerned.

On the flip side, there have always been genuine complaints from the public sector oil companies that a sizable number of LPG cylinders are diverted for commercial purposes or misused in other forms by bona fide consumers themselves. This has a profound impact on the delivery of LPG cylinders.

To sort out these ticklish issues, Mr. Dwivedi said, regular meetings were being held with the officials of oil companies and all government departments concerned but a lot more remained to be done to redress the public grievances.

The district has got 18,550 metric tonnes of rice allotted per month for distribution at Rs 2 -a-kilo through fair price shops to 12,72,589 white card and Antyodaya Anna Yojana card-holders. The subsidy component is Rs 9.63 crore.

As regards drinking water scarcity in summer, Mr. Dwivedi said that monitoring cells have been opened at Kakinada, Amalapuram and Razole to keep a watch on the manner of usage of water supplied through the protected water schemes and other utilities. Focus was laid on supplying adequate quantities of drinking water in the coastal habitations where there is problem of intrusion of sea water coupled with depletion of ground water.

Contingency plan

A summer contingency plan with an outlay of nearly Rs 570 lakh is being implemented by the Rural Water Supply (RWS) Department in 2,914 habitations which don’t have sustainable sources of safe drinking water.

The norm is to supply 40 litres per capita per day but there are instances of excess drawing of water by the public, some of whom exploit the natural resources for commercial gains. Action is being taken against such persons as per the recommendations of the village and district-level monitoring committees.

The Collector said East Godavari district stood second in the State in the implementation of the two phases of NREGS put together after Kurnool. He said efforts were on to achieve better results. Means to check the migration of poor people in search of greener pastures were also being explored. This would enable them to avail of the scheme. The Zilla Parishad approved 45,204 works to be implemented under NREGS in 2008-09 with an outlay of Rs 620.89 crore. State Civil Supplies Corporation district manager Y Narasimha Rao, RWS superintendent engineer N Mohan Kumar, NREGS district coordinator R Amarendra Kumar and others were present.

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Andhra Pradesh