Bhubaneswar, Jan. 18: The state government has asked the Centre to extend date for the cash subsidy scheme for LPG customers by another three months.
According to the scheme, the subsidy will be transferred to those consumers, who get their Aadhaar number linked to the LPG consumer number.
The moment the refill is bought, the subsidy prevalent on that day will be credited to Aadhaar-linked bank account of the LPG consumer for another cylinder. The subsidy will be provided for nine refills a year under the direct benefit transfer LPG scheme. However, the Centre has announced to increase it to 12 refills a year.
The LPG scheme is going to be implemented in seven districts of the state in two phases. In the first phase, it will be implemented in Khurda, Cuttack, Puri, and in the second, in Balangir, Balasore, Bhadrak and Sundargarh. The scheme was to be introduced in Khurda, Cuttack, Puri and Balangir by January 31 and Balasore, Sundargarh and Bhadrak by March 28.
In a letter to the Union ministry of petroleum, chief secretary J.K. Mohapatra said that as distribution of the Aadhaar cards had not been over, the state required another three months. The state government asked the Centre to extend the direct benefit scheme for Khurda, Cuttack, Puri and Balangir to April 30 and Balasore, Bhadrak and Sundargarh to June 30.
Food supplies and consumer welfare secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi said: “The generation and distribution of Aadhaar card has already been delayed. While the Aadhaar card link for 65 per cent LPG consumers have been over for Khurda, Cuttack, Puri and Balangir, only 35 to 55 per cent consumers have been covered in Balasore, Sundargarh and Bhadrak. We don’t want any consumer to suffer on account of the implementation of the scheme. We require more time.”
President of the Odisha LPG Distributors’ Association S.B. Mohapatra said: “Preparation and generation of the Aadhaar card should be made more systematic. Even though the gas dealers are at no fault, there are a lot of pressure on us.” The BJP state unit has opposed to linking of Aadhaar card to LPG subsidy and threatened to take to streets.
