Hyderabad consumers not receiving LPG subsidy for months

HYDERABAD: LPG users in Hyderabad are miffed about non-receipt of subsidy amount for the LPG cylinders in their bank accounts despite seeding Aadhaar with their bank and the LPG provider. LPG users in the city, who TNIE spoke with, have not received the subsidy for as many as their last nine cylinders and are left helpless.

On the other hand, their immediate point of contact, the gas agency executives, appear to be clueless and find solace in blaming the LPG provider.

One such customer, K Krishna Reddy, said, “For one year I have not been getting the subsidy amount although I have linked my Aadhaar to my bank account and provided the same to my gas agency in Shaikpet.” When he contacted the gas agency and enquired about the non-receipt of subsidy amount, they asked him to lodge a complaint with his bank.

“They asked me to call the bank’s toll free number. The executives there told me it would take time for the matter to get resolved as the matter was sent to the ‘appropriate authorities’,” said Reddy.
Another vexed customer, U Venkatesh, a resident of Manikonda, said, “I have written to all top officials and complained about it to my gas agency in Gachibowli but have not received my subsidy amount. The subsidy amount is not being credited even months after delivery of the cylinders.”

When contacted, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited officials blamed banks for the delay. HPCL senior regional manager (Hyderabad) Rohit Garg said that banks had not been seeding the savings accounts of beneficiaries with the National Payments Council of India(NPCI) and that was causing the delay in the subsidy amounts being deposited.

“As per government’s directive, only individuals whose annual income is less than `10 lakh can avail LPG subsidy. The subsidy amount will be directly transferred into the beneficiary’s Aadhaar-linked bank account and there will be no delay from the gas agencies.

The bankers are not seeding bank accounts with the NPCI to ensure that subsidy amount reaches the consumers,” he said and added that if any gas agency booked unused quota of a beneficiary’s subsidy cylinders in the name of another customer, the beneficiary would know about this booking through the booking SMS.

At present, the price of a domestic LPG cylinder in Hyderabad is Rs 613.50. Of this, Rs 482 has to be borne by the consumers and `131 is the subsidy component, which is credited to the bank accounts of consumers.