The All India LPG Distributors’ Federation feels that restricting the supply of subsidised domestic LPG to six a year for each household should be kept in abeyance till a proper enforcement mechanism is in place.
Pratap Doshi, President of the Federation, said there were issues to be resolved before implementing this decision. The distributors, who are the key executors of the scheme, felt that the Government should have taken them into confidence to ensure that there were no loopholes in the system before announcing it.
On Monday, the distributors met the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry officials. The Ministry, however, was of the view that this was a learning process for all, and that the distributors must co-operate.
“How do we ensure that a delivery has been made to the right household, and not to one which has already exhausted its quota?” Doshi told
The new norm has been enforced even on those falling under the exempt customer category, such as Military or Police Mess, Government organisation, approved charitable organisations and mid-day meals scheme in schools, which have an approved quota.
“No clarifications have come as to how the six-cylinder norm is to be enforced on such customers, as they consume more than six a year,” he said.
At present, there is no foolproof system of keeping a record, Doshi said. Domestic LPG has been a universally subsidised cooking fuel, till now, with no quota for supply, like other subsidised commodities sold under the public distribution system, where scale of distribution and category of beneficiaries is defined.
He said “though the Ministry has said that we can record it in the blue book during the time of delivery, it is not always that a cylinder is received by the owner. Anyone in the family can receive it, and can later deny.”
The other issue is that there will be three prices for LPG in the country now – subsidised Rs 399-Rs 423/14.2 kg cylinder (domestic LPG), around Rs 749/cylinder market price for domestic LPG, and Rs 1,334-Rs 1,533/19 kg commercial cylinder.
Doshi said as it is this trade was under pressure of dual pricing. With the introduction of a third price, the so-called ‘menace of diversion’ will only increase in absence of a proper procedure, he added.
The Federation suggested that to begin with, the Government could allow the cylinders to be delivered at one market price and the subsidy could be transferred electronically in cash by the Ministry or the oil companies.
The distributors also felt that the present commission that they get of Rs 25.83/domestic cylinder was inadequate in the changed circumstances.