Visakhapatnam: The majority of people from Vizag may not get gas supply if they fail to provide details of Aadhaar by August 31. Though officials say that this diktat was only for errant dealers who failed to seed the data, but ultimately consumers have to suffer since supply would be stopped for the dealers after September 1.
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had restrained the Centre and the Unique Identification Authority of India, on March 25 this year, through a ruling that people cannot be denied any service or benefit for not having an Aadhaar card. But, this order is not respected by the officials.
City supplies officer A. Krishna Rao said, “We are not going to trouble the consumers. Gas dealers have to seed the data by end of this month otherwise supply would be stopped if they failed to complete at least 90 per cent. Alternative arrangements would be made for gas supply keeping in view of difficulty that arises due to failure of dealers.”
Even as authorities are articulating that collection of Aadhaar details from households was only for verifying authenticity of information, but the situation has gradually been turning out to be a pressure for the people. In fact, there are 8.27 lakh gas connections in the district and 6.13 lakh were only from the city. The Aadhaar seeding has been completed by 51 per cent in the city and 57 per cent in rural areas.
As per records, around 40 per cent seeding that comes to around 2.40 lakh consumers still have to provide the details within three days. Though authorities said they had completed 100 per cent Aadhaar enrolments, still people fall on queue lines. Tension prevailed among people over statements of various departments regarding fast seeding of Aadhaar details.
