State accounts for 7.5 per cent of multiple gas connections

Karnataka accounts for 7.5 per cent of the 28,77,942 multiple LPG connections in the country, as identified by the three Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) – IOC, BPCL and HPCL, while Delhi accounts for only 2.1 per cent.

As per amended Gas Control Order, only one LPG connection with double bottle connection (DBC) is permitted in any household consisting of husband, wife, married children and dependent parents living in a dwelling unit having a common kitchen. The OMCs, using a specific software, have put a number to the multiple connections in April.

The OMCs are able to identify such connections through a software-based de-duplication process that helps identify multiple connections in the same name and/or same address.

One of the representatives from IOC (Indian Oil Corporation) said: “According to the new amendment, multiple connections in a household is totally forbidden and we are doing everything to cancel such connections.”

As one holding multiple LPG connections blocks the release of new connections to other “needy families, who otherwise resort to using non-eco-friendly fuels.”

The gas companies said possessing multiple LPG connections entails complete stoppage of LPG supplies.

“...Supplies would be resumed only after multiple connections have been surrendered. The OMCs have a shared consumer data among them to detect multiple connections and stop supplies to such consumers forthwith, till they surrender such connections,” a source said.

Going by the numbers provided by the OMCs, IOC has a total of 13,91,828 multiple connections, while BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited) and HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited) have 7,39,028 and 7,47,086, respectively.

While Karnataka and Delhi, with 2,16,485 and 62,419 multiple connections account for 7.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent, Andhra Pradesh accounts for about 17 per cent of such connections with as many as 4,89,386 multiple connections identified by the OMCs.

Similarly, Tamil Nadu and Kerala with 4,70,363 and 92,974 multiple connections, account for 16 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively. Maharastra, with 3,26,103 such connections accounts for 11 per cent.

However, these are just the figures the OMCs have complied as on April 1, 2012. The process of identifying more such connections and cancelling the illegal connections, the companies said, will be an ongoing process until the problem is weeded out completely.