Consumers blame department for the mess

The intentions may have been honourable but the ham-handedness is getting people's goat

August 09, 2011 11:53 am | Updated 11:54 am IST - Bangalore:

M.B. Nataraj, a 60-year-old Bangalorean, was aghast when the 35-year-old LPG connection, obtained in his wife Revathi's name was suspended.

This despite he submitting the mandatory documents to the Food and Civil Supplies Department.

Lalitha Rao, a Fraser Town resident, had some tense moments when she saw that her RR number did not match with the one displayed against her name on the department's website. However, her connection was not suspended.

There are two examples of how the recent exercise by the department to weed out illegal connections has left consumers angry and confused.

Of the over 27.2 lakh consumers in Bangalore metropolitan region, the department has suspended around 11.5 lakh connections. The reasons cited are as varied as non-submission of RR number; lack of RR number for LPG connection; mismatch of RR number with LPG connection and LPG number with commercial RR number.

With several consumers fuming over the confusion and blaming the department for the mess, Food and Civil Supplies Commissioner K.H. Govinda Raj and Secretary B.A. Harish Gowda admitted that there had been errors in data entry.

“Although it cannot be said how many of the 11.5 lakh suspended connections in Bangalore are because of errors in data entry, we are verifying all the entries for rectification,” Mr. Raj told The Hindu.

He, however, went on to point out that only 5.6 lakh of the 31 lakh consumers across the State whose connections had been suspended had actually applied for rectification so far. The State has 76 lakh LPG connections, both domestic and commercial. “This shows that the remaining connections are not the genuine ones. The deadline has been extended up to August 15 now,” he said.

Of the 5.6 lakh consumers who had uploaded their details in the State, 3.16 lakh connections have been restored so far. Nearly 19,000 have been rejected and 42,000 have been physically verified.

Physical verification

Mr. Raj said that department officials will undertake physical verification of the claims after the process of verifying the uploaded documents is completed.

Reacting to complaints of connections being suspended because of multiple LPG numbers with same RR number (like in the case of tenants and group housing), the commissioner said that claims of such consumers will be verified physically later.

“If there are multiple dwelling units with separate kitchens for only one RR number, department officials will physically verify them and recommend continuation of the LPG connection,” he said.

While the official argument is that distributors are responsible for bogus connections as they have forged documents to sell domestic cylinders for lucrative commercial purposes, consumer activists argue that this is a negligible section.

“Why punish the entire lot for the offences committed by a select few?” points out V.K. Somashekar, managing trustee of Grahak Shakti.

“Then Minister Shobha Karandlaje [who started the verification process] was misled about the solution to the LPG mafia misusing the subsidy. You cannot eradicate the powerful mafia by such exercises,” he said.

Wild goose chase

“Linking LPG to track bogus ration cards is a wild goose chase and linking RR numbers to LPG is another big joke. This is [stressing out] genuine consumers. Although I re-submitted my documents (all valid), they have again been rejected,” said Vikash Roy, an aggrieved consumer from J.P. Nagar.

Agreeing with Mr. Roy, Mr. Somashekar said that the idea of linking RR numbers to LPG supplies is to establish that the consumer resides in that place and he is the genuine beneficiary.

“But each cylinder is supplied to the consumer at his residence; therefore, the LPG dealer knows for certain whether the customer is residing there or not. What other proof is required? How will the RR number establish his authenticity in a better way than physical verification?” Mr. Somashekar asked.

Not foolproof

Pointing out that RR number is itself not completely foolproof, the activist said that in many apartments it is either in the builder's name or in somebody else's name.

Moreover, LPG dealers don't come under the Food and Civil Supplies Department as they are covered by a different Ministry.

It is a big joke to take up something that is out of the department's jurisdiction, Mr. Somashekar said and added that Grahak Shakti now planned to approach the court.

Consumer activists Y.G. Muralidharan of CREAT and Ravindranath Guru of Consumer Care Society feel that the exercise has been done with good intentions.

“However, it should have been done in a more scientific manner to avoid the chaos. The officials can set up a helpdesk exclusively to redress grievances of LPG consumers,” Mr. Muralidharan said.

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