Distributors and OMCs unable to get income data

Having failed to garner the adequate response from “well-off” people to voluntarily surrender their subsidised LPG connections, the government asked all oil marketing companies (OMCs) to assess the income brackets of its customers. The OMCs have expressed their inability to do so, leading the government to put the onus on local distributors. Even distributors expressed reservation, saying that it was just not possible for them to seek such information from their customers as it may attract protests and complaints against them.

According to information available with this newspaper, a high-level meeting was held in November last year where the three OMCs (Indane, Bharat Gas and HP Gas) were asked to assess the income levels of people having subsidised connections.

The government is even said to have created different slabs of incomes of customers on the basis of which the information was to be collected. One slab was of customers having income below Rs 5 lakh per annum, while the other slab was of customers having income in the range of Rs 5 lakh to 10 lakh per annum. The last slab was of those having income above Rs 10 lakh per annum.

The OMCs conveyed their reservations, indicating to the government that while it would not be feasible to conduct a house-to-house survey seeking salary details of each and every customer, there would also a lot of apprehension among people if such personal details are sought, sources aware of the development said. It was then decided that LPG distributors should be asked to conduct the “salary survey”. However, even distributors expressed their inability, citing reasons like strong protests by customers.