Thousands of people in and around Bangalore must now thank their sheer luck that there is no Aadhaar-LPG subsidy linkage.
The delinking happened in late February. Just imagine if it had not happened – for even until now, 82 per cent of LPG consumers in Bangalore Urban and 87 per cent in Bangalore Rural districts have not linked their Aadhaar number with their bank account and LPG consumer number.
Thousands of LPG consumers in nearby Chickballapur districts are yet to do it too. In non-compliance, people from the home state of Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani seem to beat their counterparts in Delhi, parts of Kerala or Tamil Nadu hollow, according to consolidated figures compiled by Canara Bank for the districts and areas where it leads across States.
OptionalAadhaar rolled in in January 2013 and it was made optional for LPG subsidy in February 22 this year. In the 13 months until March 4 this year, only 17.4 per cent or 4.9 lakh of Bangalore’s 28.6 lakh consumers of public sector LPG brands registered their unique ID number with banks for getting the subsidies; and 26.5 per cent of them with the gas dealer for claiming the benefit.
S.S. Bhat, General Manager at Canara Bank’s Priority Credit and Financial Inclusion Wing, said Bangaloreans and customers in some other places in the State had not come forward to register their details with banks and gas dealers. Mysore with around 80 per cent compliance and Tumkur over 75 per cent were exceptions.
Canara Bank has seeded 35 lakh customers of different LPG brands so far, next to SBI and has dispensed subsidies of Rs. 228 crore between January 2013 and February this year.
