Here’s some relief to large households worried about restrictions on LPG connections. They need not surrender the additional connection.
As per the new norms announced by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Friday, consumers can retain multiple connections but will have to shell out more for the cylinders. They will be priced thrice as much as the subsidised refill.
In its instructions, the Ministry asked oil companies — IOC, BPCL and HPCL — to include additional connections in the non-subsidised non-domestic exempted category (NDEC).
The consumer will not have to go through additional Know Your Customer (KYC) formalities for the extra connection.
In Chennai, each subsidised refill is priced at about Rs. 400. Cylinders (14.2 kg) under the additional connections will cost a little over Rs. 1,200, the price at which refills are supplied to government hospitals, educational institutions, hostels and orphanages.
The relaxation in norms applies to multiple connections blocked or likely to be blocked by oil companies. Such households, after fulfilling KYC formalities and completing de-duplication norms, would be eligible for six subsidised cylinders, annually, against one of the connections.
The new norms come even as thousands of households with multiple connections surrendered the additional ones in response to the government’s recent ‘one household, one connection’ announcement. The oil companies also blocked refill supplies to such consumers.
The Gas Control Order issued under the Essential Commodities Act, which the Ministry had cited to underscore the norm, applied to subsidised cylinders alone, said sources.
It is not clear if households that surrendered multiple connections could now get them back, if they so desired, since a new connection means a higher security deposit. A decision in that regard is pending, the sources said.
Instant new connections
The Ministry asked oil companies to issue new domestic connections instantly, but such consumers will be supplied with non-subsidised domestic cylinders initially. In Chennai, it costs about Rs. 880. Following verification of documents by oil companies, the consumers will be eligible for subsidised cylinders.
The consumers must not already be in possession of LPG connections from other public-sector oil companies. There is no restriction on the number of non-subsidised cylinders a customer can purchase.
A press release issued by IOC on behalf of the three oil marketing companies said transfer of LPG connection to family members during lifetime would hence be permitted, subject to certain conditions. The same security deposit as in the original subscription voucher would do in such cases.
For transfer of LPG connections to legal heir in case of death of consumers, for which legal heir/succession certificate is required now, the Ministry said, henceforth, a self-declaration by the next of kin and death certificate would suffice.
It has also been decided to permit regularisation of LPG connection in someone else’s name, with or without original documents, subject to adherence to certain conditions. The oil companies have come out with detailed guidelines on regularisation of connections and details are available on their websites.
