Faulty data entry blamed for LPG connection ‘verification' chaos

‘Large-scale mistakes have been reported from Mangalore'

Over 10,000 domestic LPG connections in Dakshina Kannada have been marked for data mismatch, thanks to the faulty data entry.

Sureshkumar, Assistant Director of Food and Civil Supplies Department, has been shifted from Mangalore for not supervising the data entry process effectively, according to Secretary to the department B.A. Harish Gowda. He told The Hindu over phone from Bangalore that large-scale mistakes in data entry had been reported only from Mangalore and nowhere else.

Mr. Gowda said in many cases ‘5' has been typed as ‘S' or vice versa and in some cases numbers ending, for example 61, had been entered as 62. Mr. Gowda said these mistakes would be set right and people need not worry.

He clarified that the department was not cross-checking the names of the consumers in ration cards and LPG cards as was being perceived. There is “no intention to read the names,” he said.

Asserting that there was no attempt to match the names and the computer software had been configured only to match the numbers, he said the names in the electricity bills were also not being cross-checked and those residing in rented houses, who could not produce the bills with their names, need not worry. “Whether the consumer resides in a rented house or not is not a factor (we are looking at),” he stated categorically.

Mangalore-based Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies Sharana Basappa said the data showed mismatch of suffixes and prefixes and this was being rectified.

Mr. Sharana Basappa said there was an overwhelming response to the appeals to file data online. As of Wednesday night, 7,847 people had given data online in the district – highest for any range office in the State. Consumers in any one of the five range offices in Bangalore too had not shown such tech-savvy attitude, he said.

The department had received 3,412 applications from people who had walked into his office till Wednesday evening and documents relating to 500 connections could have been received on Thursday. He said work on uploading the data online would be expedited once the staff members completed data collecting work.