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Glitches hurt LPG home delivery

Last Updated 22 October 2012, 18:33 IST

The Union government is yet to act on its promise of issuing either smart cards or coupons to ensure cylinders reached genuine customers.

Last month, the All India LPG Distributors Federation (Karnataka Circle) had sought a foolproof system for home delivery of LPG cylinders and threatened to stop the door delivery service if their demands were not met. The Union government then promised to evolve a “smart” system. But till now, there is no progress in this regard.

Jai Lobo, a resident of Kumaraswamy Layout, said he was asked to produce the domestic gas customer card (DGCC) or blue book by the gas delivery boy who brought a refill cylinder to his house last week.

“When I checked with the agency and the oil company, they said with the six-cylinder-per-year cap in place, the signature in the DGCC book was the only method to ensure proper delivery.

My father had misplaced the DGCC book, and all these years, it was not a must for getting LPG home delivered. Now, the agency wants me to procure a duplicate DGCC book and I have been running around to get it as the agency staff are asking for several documents,” he said.

More time sought

Sudheshna R of Sahakara Nagar said the government should have given some time for customers before making the entry in DGCC book mandatory for LPG delivery.
“Instead of making the system foolproof, customers are being harassed with new rules every now and then,” she said.

LPG distributors too have their share of problems. Sathyan N, secretary of the Karnataka Circle of the Federation, confirmed that there was no news yet from the government on making the LPG delivery system foolproof.

“Till such a system with IT features like binary or fingerprint is in place, the DGCC card is the only document we can depend on. But even there, there are problems. Sometimes, the actual customer is not at home during the time of delivering the cylinder and other members of his or her family refuse to sign in the blue book.

We have instructed the delivery boys not to deliver cylinders without the signature of either the customer or any other member present in the house, in the DGCC book as well as the bill,” he said.

Sathyan said customers can obtain a blue book by paying Rs 45 to their gas agency.
“As for documents, it is mandatory for the customer to establish his/her authenticity,” he said.

“If we don’t resort to such measures, the delivery boys will be held responsible for any loss. Scope for such problems is more now, as customers are eligible for only three subsidised LPG cylinders for this financial year (from September 14, 2012 to March 31, 2012),” he said.

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(Published 22 October 2012, 18:33 IST)

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