Agrawal, activists spar over gas subsidy

TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: With just five days to go for the deadline set for LPG consumers to register with gas dealers for availing benefit of cash subsidy from December 1, confused consumers and activists from South Goa called on District Collector, N D Agrawal on Monday seeking clarifications on the requirement of Aadhar card for registration.
LPG consumers under the banner of Navelim Civic and Consumer Forum asked the District Collector to give in writing, making mandatory for consumers to register themselves for the cash subsidy with Aadhar card. Heated exchanges ensued between consumers and Agrawal as the latter refused to give anything in writing, saying the District Collector had nothing to do with the implementation of the scheme. “This scheme is being implemented by the government and the collector has no role to play”, he told the delegation.
As Agrawal tried to wash his hands off from the controversy, the consumers demanded to know from the Collector why his office had issued a statement asking consumers to register themselves for the subsidy scheme with the Aadhar card. An agitated District Collector even asked the electronic media to put off the cameras unable to face the volley of questions raised by the consumers and activists and accused them for seeking publicity.
Later, Navelim Civic and Consumer Forum Secretary Joseph Vaz told the media in the presence of Herald Pinto and Menino Fernandes that they had only requested the District Collector to dish out proper information to the people by mentioning that Aadhar number is not mandatory for availing domestic cooking gas subsidy. “The Collector could not give a satisfactory answer when told that the UID scheme is rejected by the Parliament and confirmed by the Supreme Court. He merely kept saying that he has not given any order and that he has no say in the matter. When we insisted, he said that he has received a verbal order through video conferencing from the government”, Vaz said.