CHENNAI: About 45 lakh LPG consumers in the State have not received their subsidy for April and May.
While 20.5 lakh gas connections are yet to be linked with Aadhaar, which is mandatory to receive subsidy, a whopping 25.31 lakh consumers have not received subsidy in spite of submitting all documents, revealed data obtained by Express through RTI. The response was given by three oil companies - IOCL, BPCL and HPCL.
Many who received subsidy till March have been denied it in April and May allegedly due to technical glitches in the banking system due to which Aadhaar is getting delinked. The oil companies claimed that among active accounts many may have not demanded for refill and not updated their records for subsidy.
However, the data given by IOCL showed over 98 per cent of its consumers have received the subsidy disproving the official claim. About 41 lakh consumers of HPCL and BPCL have not been given subsidy in spite of linking their Aadhaar. Similarly, four lakh consumers of IOCL have not got their subsidy, data reveal.
The issue of suspension of subsidy began in 2018 when banks started to deposit the subsidy in the latest bank account which has Aadhaar linked. When an Aadhaar gets registered with another bank by means of opening a new account and automatic subsidy distribution to the previous bank account gets suspended and is deposited to the new account. While a few consumers received their subsidy to their new accounts, a large number of them failed to get it and were forced to knock on every door, allege consumer activists.
S Mohan Ram, president, Consumer Protection Council, Thiruninravur, said consumers who approached the dealers were asked to contact the banks, who in turn directed them to the dealers.
“During the State level consumers’ grievances meeting recently we were informed that consumers had to submit a fresh request with the latest bank account to get the subsidy. How can banks send subsidy to new accounts without our consent.” T Sadagopan, president of Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumers’ Centre, said absence of proper mechanism for coordination between banks and oil companies have defeated the purpose of direct transfer of subsidy. “Many poor families have lost their rightful subsidy- which is around Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 a year.”
A senior official from IOCL said, “There was no delay in updating Aadhaar. As and when consumers complain of non-receipt of subsidy, a new request is being taken and updated. Many consumers may not demand subsidy and we cannot come to any conclusion based on the data.”