Oil companies block LPG refill supply to non-KYC consumers in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Families which have multiple LPG connections and have not submitted their Know Your Customer (KYC) details by December 31, last year, are set to lose either their connection or subsidy as all three oil marketing companies have blocked release of refills to consumers with effect from January 1.The KYC may or may not include Aadhaar but people are advised to furnish the unique identity number on the grounds that it bears details of the consumer.Though there is no restriction on the number of domestic non-subsidised cylinders which the consumers can avail beyond the subsidised LPG refills, consumers who do not comply with KYC can not avail even the non-subsidised cylinders.

The oil marketing companies, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) have asked their distributors not to supply LPG cylinders to KYC non-compliant consumers.Even as the number of connections suspended due to non-compliance of KYC details could not be ascertained immediately, the oil companies have warned that customers would not be entitled to refills till they completed the KYC formalities.

Chief Regional Manager of HPCL Dharmendra Behura said it was a centralised order to weed out multiple or ghost connections and the deadline was fixed for December 31 for customers to submit their duly filed KYC forms with their respective distributors.“Now the connection has been suspended for Non-cash Transfer Compliant (NCTC) consumers. Earlier there were complaints of multiple connections holders indulging in unauthorised lifting of four/five refills a month. However, the dealers have options to resume supply once such consumers submit their KYC details and after verification of multiplicity,” Behura said.

The decision, the oil company officials said, has been taken to implement the ‘one household, one connection’ policy. Multiple cooking gas connections in same name and same address as well as both husband and wife owning connections at same address have been plugged.The oil companies had advised all those with multiple connections to submit KYC details, pertaining to connection they wish to retain. “We had sent SMS to all consumers asking them to submit those details by December 2017 end. The consumers should not worry. The refills can be issued after completion of KYC formalities and multiple connection check,” said an official of BPCL.

However, the IOCL has stricter rules for blocked consumers. An IOCL official said Indane distributors can not resume the supply even if the KYC is submitted to them. “The connections can only be resumed if the suspended consumers submit their KYC with the designated officials in their respective areas. It will help bring transparency in the system,” he added.