It was expecting angry reactions from the public during the implementation of the new gas subsidy order. But the worst fears of the National Federation of LPG Distributors of India (NFLDI) came true on January 5 this year when Amit Bharadwaj, an LPG distributor in Meerut, was shot in the head at his shop by an irate customer, one Kallu Pradhan.
Speaking about the Meerut incident, Pawan Soni, general secretary, NFLDI said, “Amit Baradwaj, the owner of the gas agency shop in Kankarkhera village in Meerut, dealt with 14,500 gas connections. The oil marketing companies (OMCs) terminated 2,500 connections out of these, categorising them as falling under the Different Name Same Address (DNSA). This DNSA is a problem. In a village in Uttar Pradesh, an address like 52 Kanak Post would have 40 families staying, which means it is a small hamlet. But the DNSA software the OMCs use take it as 40 gas connections at one single address. They blocked all of them. This led the members of 40 families to come to the gas agency, demanding an explanation.”
Soni said that Bharadwaj gave a statement in the presence of a magistrate that the OMC did not unblock 2,500 connections, even after he forwarded the Know Your Customer (KYC) documents provided by his customers to the OMC.
The gas agency owners’ association had been alleging that ‘erroneous’ lists of DNSA were provided by the OMCs. This had led to the blocking of LPG connections of many genuine consumers. In turn it would lead to law-and-order problems across India. The NFLDI had taken up the issue with the Union Petroleum Ministry in October.
What is the DNSA problem?
Soni explained the DNSA problem with a hypothetical example. “Suppose four families, Sharma, Verma Singh and Sindhu, reside at the address 52, Saket. They have four gas connections. The software with the OMCs would interpret it as DNSA and block all the four connections. In such a case, the customers will have to fill the KYC form to convey that they are four different families residing at the same address and hence their connections should be unblocked.
He added: “The four families submit the form to the gas dealer, who in turn passes on the KYC form to the company and requests them to unblock the connection. But for weeks together, the OMCs don’t take cognisance of the submitted KYC forms. Meanwhile, the gas cylinders of the Sharma, Verma Singh and Sindhu families have emptied. They come back to the agency asking for gas cylinder. But, the dealer tells them that KYC process is not yet over and they can buy cylinders at a cost of Rs 1,120. This can be done by taking a new ‘exempt’ category gas connection till their gas connection is unblocked.”
But that doesn’t put an end to the problems faced by the customers. Soni said: “The customers have arguments with the agency. They complain that even after they have submitted the KYC form, they are being forced to buy a cylinder at a price of Rs 1,120. “In small towns where people are hard-pressed for money, if you tell the customers that they would have to buy cylinders for Rs 1,120 till the OMCs take cognisance of their KYC form, it results in a big fight between the dealer and the customers. The customers feel that the dealer is cheating them by giving him cylinders at a high price. And the situation can become violent, like Meerut where the dealer was shot by the customer,” added Soni.