Aadhaar-LPG link to stay

Hyderabad: The “Aadhaar is a must” rule to avail of the domestic LPG cylinder subsidy will continue as anticipated from September 1 in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. The clarification comes in the wake of the recent statement by the Centre in the Rajya Sabha that Aadhaar is not mandatory to avail of government subsidies. The Oil Marketing Companies issued a public notice in all the prominent newspapers on Wednesday, alerting LPG consumers about the August 31 deadline and about losing the subsidy amount in case they fail to complete Aadhaar-LPG-bank linkage. The OMCs have asked all the gas agencies to stop sale of LPG cylinders at subsidised price of RS 412.50 from September 1. All consumers, irrespective of Aadhaar-LPG-bank linkage, will have to purchase cylinders for the market price of Rs 960 from September 1. Those with an Aadhaar-LPG-bank linkage will receive the subsidy amount directly into their bank accounts. However, only 30 per cent of the total LPG consumers in Hyderabad will get subsidy from September 1, going by the current figures. There are 12,18,336 domestic LPG consumers in city. Of them, only 8,40,651 have submitted their Aadhaar cards at gas agencies so far. Of these, 8.40 lakh consumers who submitted Aadhaar cards at gas agencies, only 3,11,041 have given their Aadhaar details at banks. This would mean only 3.11 lakh consumers out of a total of 12.18 lakh in Hyderabad are eligible to avail of gas subsidy from September 1. UIDAI officials on the other hand asked the consumers to submit their Aadhaar enrolment numbers at gas agencies and banks without waiting for an Aadhaar UID number.