The LPG subsidy being borne by the oil marketing companies is Rs. 560 per cylinder and not Rs. 344 as mentioned in the online Transparency portals run by them, State LPG coordinator Madhukar Ingole said on Friday. The portal needs to be updated as the subsidy burden has increased to about Rs. 560, he said.
Mr. Ingole also clarified that the government will reimburse the subsidy of Rs. 500 once a customer updates his LPG account and bank account with his Aadhaar card number to enable him purchase the first gas cylinder.
“The government will deposit an amount of Rs. 500 in a customer’s bank account once the process of linking Aadhaar card number with LPG and bank account is complete. From the second transaction onwards a customer will have to pay the full cost of unsubsidised cylinder and will receive the subsidy amount of Rs. 560, in his bank account,” he explained.
A Payment Bridge Bank (PBB) is being appointed for this purpose and subsidies will be reimbursed without any delay, he said. Once a customer pays for the cylinder, the database of the dealer will be updated on the same day and the customer would receive a credit of the subsidy amount through PBB next day, he said.
The whole process of linking Aadhaar card is being taken up to root out the practice of holding more than one gas connection by some people, Mr. Ingole said.
“On an average a family consumes about six cylinders per year, but there are people who have consumed more than 30 cylinders per year. This shows that they were misusing the subsidies provided by the government,” he said adding that this process can be curtailed by linking unique Aadhaar number with LPG connection.
