Aadhaar-linked transfer of LPG subsidies in 3 dists

Subsidies provided for LPG cylinders will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of consumers from February 15 in Mysore district, said Neeraj Mittal, Joint Secretary of the Union Finance Ministry, here on Wednesday.

This will make it necessary for consumers to pay Rs 901 per cylinder from February 15, instead of the present rate of Rs 410. Consumers now get a maximum of nine cylinders per year at subsidised rates, for which they will get reimbursement of the subsidy amount, he told a press conference.  

The move is aimed at preventing the misuse of subsidy given to domestic users of LPG cylinders. Aadhaar-linked Direct Cash Transfer of LPG subsidies will be implemented in 51 districts of the country, including Mysore, Tumkur and Dharwad in Karnataka. There are a total of 34 LPG distributors with a customer base of 5.2 lakh in the district.

He said consumers who haven’t submitted the KYC (Know Your Consumer) forms should provide a photo-copy of their Aadhaar cards. The consumers should also link their Unique Identification Numbers to their bank accounts, he said.

A total of Rs 28.58 lakh people have registered under Aadhaar in Mysore district, of which 24 lakh people have already received their Aadhaar cards. People who haven’t received their Aadhaar cards can avail subsidies by giving their Aadhaar registration numbers with LPG distributors and banks, he informed.

Mittal said 80 lakh illegal LPG connections had been unearthed after the completion of the process of filling up KYC forms. This would help reduce the subsidy burden by Rs 300 crore. While the number of domestic LPG cylinders had come down, that of commercial ones had gone up.

Lead bank manager M B Chinnappa said 6,88,422 people have their bank accounts in the district. “We have linked Aadhaar numbers with 1,38,901 of these accounts,” he said. He said there were 25 Aadhaar card registration centres in the district, including 13 in urban centres.