Aadhaar deadline extended till March 15

A day before the Aadhaar-gas link deadline is to expire, the Centre Thursday relaxed the stipulation for one more month.

The new deadline for Aadhaar-gas link is March 15, the earlier one being Feb 15.

State government officials received a communique to this effect on Thursday, said principal secretary (Finance) P V Ramesh.

Sources said that people in five districts -- Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, East Godavari, Chittoor and Anantapur -- should submit their Aadhaar number to their respective gas agencies before March 15.  The five districts were selected to implement the scheme on a pilot basis in the state. After domestic gas consumers submit their Aadhaar numbers to their respective gas distributors, the government will deposit the subsidy amount of the domestic gas in their respective bank accounts.

The extension of deadline came following requests by the state government on the ground that many people were yet to enrol for Aadhaar in the five districts.

After March 15, consumers have to pay Rs 1035 per LPG refill as against Rs 435 they are paying now. The subsidy portion of around Rs 600 per refill would be deposited in the bank accounts of consumers.

The subsidy will be applicable for nine domestic cylinders per year and the consumers have to pay the full amount for any additional cylinders used by them.

Many enrolled people are yet to get the number. There is no information about their status on the Aadhaar website (uidai.gov.in) either. The site only has a message that reads: “EID provided by you is still not available with us. Please check after few days.”

Officials caution that those already enrolled can’t do it again as the system will not accept it.

In case of lost Aadhaar numbers or registration papers, people can get them at a Mee Seva centre by submitting their phone number. Officials suggest the head of a family, in whose name the LPG connection exists, may first get enrolled for Adhaar.