CHENNAI: Consumers with Aadhaar cards but yet to register for Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) or Pahal scheme can now submit both Form 1 and 2 to the gas agency outlet. Oil Marketing Company (OMC) sources and gas dealers said this move was prompted as banks were slow in processing their side of applications.
The software where gas dealers need to enter individual details has been slightly modified to enable dealers to enter bank account details of consumers and verify them. If a consumer tries to bluff by giving a non-existent bank account number, then the system will deny verification and the consumer would be asked to visit the bank, an agency dealer said.
“Oil Ministry is pushing us to achieve at least 90 per cent registration by the end of January. Banks are not working fast enough, holding up the process. Hence we have been given this new facility,” an official said. However, consumer rights activist T Sadagopan said this would be unfair to other consumers. “This new system would benefit only those 30 odd per cent who have not yet registered for Pahal. But there are thousands who have submitted documents, but their registration is pending from the bank’s side,” he said.
According to an Oil Company official, there were 13 per cent consumers whose registration was yet to be completed at the bank end and they could re-fill the Form 1 and hand it over to the gas agency. “We shall make them Cash Transfer Compliant (CTC). Later, when the bank completes the formality, it will be overwritten. The bottom-line, consumers will get linked to Pahal,” he said.