J M Behl
Hats off to different gas agencies running in our country for the supply of LPG for our domestic use in creating a big chaos and confusion out of a simple problem generated due to the restrictions imposed by the Government to supply only 06 cylinders at subsidised rates in a year to the customers of a particular family because of which countless LPG genuine users have been facing avoidable harassments and inconveniences for the last so many months.
The idea behind complete exercise, which one can understand, was to issue on subsidised rates, a particular number of gas cylinders to a family in a year and if the requirement of that family is more than 06 cylinders then the gas would be issued at higher cost. There is also no restrictions on giving new connections to families, not having so far any connection on their name but with the process adopted by the oil companies and their conduct, treatment and behaviour with the customers, delivers an expression as if complete Himaliya Parbat as fallen on their heads and the customers who are on the receiving end are made to run from here to there for days together to get the delivery of one gas filled cylinder. What a pity ?
The plea of the companies that if on same home-address, there are more than one connection then probably all those connection holders would be drawing the refilled cylinders of subsidised rates, which would exceed the quota fixed by the government which is presently six in a year. Well the cylinders are issued by the dealers of these companies only after making proper entries both in the dealer’s as well as in the consumer’s record books and if anyone is coming to receive the filled cylinder after he / she has already received full quota of subsidised cylinders the consumer should be asked to pay the cost at higher rates fixed by the Government and be respectfully attended by the dealers in delivering the additional high- cost- cylinder rather than blocking / cancelling the connection or making him / her run from pillar to post in the process of verification / re-verification as if some grave mistake has been done by requesting an extra needed cylinder in the family to cook the food which is an extremely essential item to be alive, especially in absence of other resources to cook.
Making un-necessary harassment to the consumers having more than one connection on same home-address is also not acceptable because no connection could have been possible without completing the formalities existing at that time also when those connections were processed. Moreover the rates at no stage for cylinders of domestic use were on different grades i.e. some on subsidised and others on un-subsidised quota and also there was no restriction on the number of cylinders to be used in a year, there were no hue and cry either from the dealers or from the consumers except that at some odd time the delivery of refilled cylinder if required earlier than 21 days from the date of previous supply, was to be delayed when the demand usually used to increase in winter season . There does not seem to be any sound / valid reason to cancel all such connections when the requirement of the Government is only to restrict the subsidised cylinders to six in a year per family. The companies or their dealers should have prepared two different rubber stamps i.e. one with readings “ on subsidised rate” and the other “ on higher rate “ and these stamps should have been fixed on the consumers’ book, to differentiate them when these were produced before the dealers for the issue of next refilled cylinders and accordingly customers could have been entertained separately in two different categories, similarly in the way the consumers of two different ration cards holders i.e. “Above Poverty Line” and “Below Poverty Line “ are being treated for distributing sugar, atta etc. The calculation for not issuing more than 6 cylinders in a year can easily be made from the consumer’s book stamped as “On Subsidised Rate’’ at any time by the concerned dealer. How it effects any gas company even if more than one connection exists on one particular home-address when that concerned house does not draw more than the authorised cylinders on subsidised rate and also when there is no restriction from the Government side in issuing non-subsidised rated cylinders and the consumer is happily ready to pay at the enhanced rates for the additional cylinders requirement in a family for cooking purpose.
It is reported that Government may shortly increase the number from 6 to 9 for issue of gas cylinders on subsidised rates , which is a welcome step but definitely the earlier worked out formula of 6 cylinders in a year to a family announced few months back by the Government caused intolerable sufferings for the common man.
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