LPG consumers who made a booking for refill on Monday and Tuesday were at their wits end to ascertain if the cash subsidy had landed in their bank accounts or not consequent to the launch of Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme in Mysore district.
For, the subsidy amount of Rs. 435 as promised by the Government was not reflected in their bank accounts in many cases. Such consumers called up the LPG dealers to question them about non-receipt of funds. But they were in turn advised to approach the banks as they are the critical link to ensure that the individual’s SB accounts, Aadhar number and LPG consumer numbers are seeded and mapped.
Mehul Patel, distributor for HP gas and proprietor of Amardeep Gas Agency here, told The Hindu that 1,200 LGP cylinders were booked since July 1 and most of them claimed that cash transfer had not taken place.
However, on accessing the “transparency portal” the dealer was able to confirm that all 1,200 were eligible to receive the cash subsidy and this would be reflected in their bank accounts in a day or two.
An LPG distributor of Indian Oil Corporation said that of the 400 LPG bookings on Monday, 10 accounts reflected cash transfer to their accounts. “There was a steady stream of calls from customers who criticised us for harassing them but we had to explain that it is for the banks to complete the seeding and once the documents are matched and mapped, this will be reflected in the database of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) which will transfer the amount,” said Mr. Patel.
Of his customer base of nearly 19,000 LPG documents, accounts of nearly 10,000 have been seeded by the bank and this reflected in the NPCI systems which meant that these customers were now “cash transfer compliant (CTC)”. Their accounts will be credited with a subsidy of Rs. 435 on booking a refill for the first month and we will collect Rs. 840 — being the current market price for LPG — from them.
The rest are “cash transfer non-compliant” for now and will pay Rs. 418.50 per LPG cylinder till the grace period. But they were expected to come under CTC in due course, said Mr. Patel. The subsidy amount to be credited to the customers account will vary depending on the market price of the LPG, he added.
Pramod Narayan of Raghavendra Gas Agency said that 80 per cent of his 25,000 customers had submitted the aadhar and LPG consumer numbers to the banks but only 40 per cent of these have been seeded so far. Such customers being “cash transfer non-compliant” will not receive subsidy amount immediately on booking a refill. But they will receive LPG at Rs. 418.50 per cylinder till September 30 after which the market rates will come into force. But since there was three months for the banks to complete the seeding, there was no need to panic,” said Mr. Narayan.
Among those who had booked LPG refill was K.N. Murugan who received an SMS on his mobile stating that a sum of Rs. 435 has been credited to his account. But there were others who were anxious about non-receipt of subsidy amount.
A senior bank official on the condition of anonymity said that cash transfer will take place once the seeding is reflected in the NPCI systems. “There will be teething problems but it will be a one-time affair,” he added.
Incidentally, only 39 per cent of the nearly 5.18 lakh LPG customers in the district have been seeded by the banks. Hence, a meeting of bankers has been convened on Wednesday to chalk out an action plan to speed up the process.
