TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Even as confusion prevails over the requirement of Aadhar cards to avail the LPG subsidy scheme, HP dealers from South Goa claim that only 27 per cent of the LGP gas customers from the district have registered themselves for the subsidy scheme till date.
The HP dealers from the district have now decided to dash off a letter to Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily with a plea to extend the November 30 deadline to April next year.
HP gas dealers having jurisdiction over Salcete’s coastal belt, Rodney Rodrigues informed that it would be next to impossible to complete the registration of the remaining nearly 70 per cent of the customers within a month and half. “The statistics of the 14 HP dealers in South Goa revealed that only 27 per cent of the LPG customers have registered for the subsidy scheme. It would be next to impossible to register the balance 70 per cent within a month and half”, he said, while disclosing plans to write a letter to the Union Petroleum Minister listing out the problems plaguing the exercise and the need for further extension of time.
When questioned whether the LPG dealers have stopped accepting Aadhar cards for registration for the subsidy scheme, Rodrigues said that confusion prevails about the Aadhar card in the light of the Supreme Court ruling. “While the Supreme Court has categorically said that Aadhar card is not mandatory for customers to register them for the gas subsidy scheme, the dealers are yet to receive any fresh circular post Supreme Court ruling. We find ourselves in a tight spot as customers confront the dealers over the Aadhar card requirement,” he added.
When contacted, District Collector N D Agrawal told Herald that the mandatory requirement of the Aadhar card has not been dispensed with so far for want of the Supreme Court order. “We have not received the Supreme court order. We have come to know of the Supreme Court ruling via the media. Appropriate changes will be effected to the documents requirement only after receiving the Supreme Court order,” Agrawal maintained.
