Joint families need not worry if they have to surrender gas connections as they will get a third cylinder, Sharanabasappa, Deputy Director, Department of Food and Civil Supplies, has said.
He told The Hindu on Monday that though two gas connections would not be given to the same consumer, joint families could get a third cylinder if they could justify the usage.
“If families with 8 to 10 members require another gas cylinder, they can quote a specific reason and write to the gas company concerned,” he said.
“One connection means two cylinders and the second gas cylinder can be given every 21 days. So families requiring a third cylinder are rare cases,” he said.
Mr. Sharanabasappa said that using LPG for heating water was considered commercial. Its usage was encouraged by gas companies and not by the department.
He said that two gas connections may be given in case of families living under the same roof but cooking separately.
However, a spot verification would be done. Inspectors had guidelines and discretionary powers to check if such claimed cases were genuine.
The department received 2,500 applications for spot verifications till Monday. Mangalore city had three food inspectors. If the number of applications increased on Tuesday and Wednesday, the department would seek help from the head office, he said.
The results of spot verifications would be made available online in the next 10 days (offline checking is also available).
In case of a block of apartments with a single RR number, a spot verification would be done. “That is not a problem and connection will not be suspended,” he said.
He said in Dakshina Kannada, of the 3,24,000 gas connections, two lakh consumers had given documents. The rest (1,24,000) had not submitted their documents.
On why genuine consumers were being asked to get documents instead of identifying those who were misusing gas connections? He shot back: “What does it show? What is wrong in asking them about documentation? If the documents are not given, will there not be doubts if their connection is genuine or not?”
Meanwhile, some consumers from joint families were anxious and unsure of what to do. Roshan, part of a joint family of 11 persons, said that they had two gas connections with a common RR number. “We actually need three cylinders. We are adjusting with two cylinders. But managing with a single gas connection is impossible,” he said.
