Aadhaar number must to get LPG cylinder in Mysore

Database of 50,000 LPG consumers has been created

State-run oil marketing companies are asking for Aadhaar number for LPG refill in select areas of Mysore.

This is being done on a pilot project basis.

The oil companies - IOC, BPC and HPC - have already created a database of about 50,000 LPG consumers coming under the jurisdiction of three different local distributors – Venus Gas Services, Prasad Gas Services and Little Gas Company – in Mysore under the pilot project and linked their refill supply to Aadhaar.

“We will soon make it mandatory for all our consumers to furnish Aadhaar and their bank account details. We are already asking the consumers to furnish the details at the earliest. Of the total 25,000 consumers coming under our jurisdiction, about 12,000 have already furnished the details,” Neeta Maroli, the administrator of Venus Gas located in Agrahara in Mysore, told Deccan Herald.

The oil companies’ move has left many citizens in the lurch as they have not obtained Aadhaar yet. Besides, the government has not officially made Aadhaar compulsory for LPG refill supply. Over and above, the Centre has currently suspended the process of issuing Aadhaar as the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDA) has been working on addressing certain security issues.

The oil companies selected Mysore city for the pilot project as the Aadhaar coverage in the city is said to be about 95 per cent. The pilot project was started in October 2011, and it is almost complete.

Officials of oil companies, who refused to be quoted, said the permission of the Oil Ministry has been sought to extend the pilot project to entire Mysore city, covering an estimated 3.5 lakh domestic LPG consumers. The plan is to test the system in the entire city before implementing in other parts of the country, officials said.

Subsidy transfer

This apart, the oil companies are set to take up another pilot project on the proposed direct transfer of subsidy to the domestic LPG consumers in Mysore in a week. 

Currently, the oil companies are awaiting the Reserve Bank of India’s permission to take up the pilot project for direct transfer of subsidy, officials said.

Under the direct transfer system, the gas agencies will obtain UID numbers or Aadhaar of the consumers (of the entire family members and an authorised person) and their bank account numbers. The bank account will be made Aadhaar-enabled.

At the time of delivery of the refill cylinder at the consumer’s door steps, biometric details of any one of family members or the authorised person are verified using hand-held “point of sale devise”. Only if the bio-metric details of the person are matched with the consumer data already stored in the devise, a bill gets generated and the refill cylinder is delivered. Consumers will be charged the market rate for the refill – which is presently around Rs 800 per cylinder. 

The successful operation of matching the biometric details and generating bill, triggers an automatic process of transfer of subsidy amount (approximately Rs 400 per refill) from the bank account of the oil company to the bank account of the consumer, officials said.

Officials also said the Oil Ministry is planning to make advance payment of subsidy amount (before the delivery of refill) to the consumers’ account so that people can easily make the payment during delivery.