Rajahmundry: The frequent change in domestic LPG price ever since the Aadhaar-LPG- bank account linkage was made mandatory is said to be creating a lot of confusion among the consumers, particularly lower middle class people though the subsidy part is also being changing accordingly.
As far as East Godavari is concerned, which is in the first phase of implementation of this programme, in total, 92 per cent of LPG connections were linked with Aadhaar out of 9. 28 lakh with the 64 outlets across the district to cater to the needs of the consumers. This is against the total 10.30 lakh connections before the Aadhaar seeding was brought into force. Of this total, the bank account linkage was completed to 7.90 lakh, making it 87 per cent by January 2.
The main concern of the consumers is the frequent and almost month-wise change in the price, apart from the demands of some of the delivery boys at the time of delivery, particularly to housewives who take delivery of the LPG cylinders at the door step. In the last three months the price was revised from Rs 1,016 to Rs 1,085.50 to Rs 1,327.50 during January.
This is apart from the one-time investment on purchase of the LPG cylinder as it takes almost a week to get the subsidy credited to the bank account of the consumer.
In January, the consumer will be paid Rs 843.50 towards subsidy. For example, housewife A. Rama Devi of Rajahmundy is of the opinion that since the date of booking, if one is not thorough with mobile message system, one has to wait for the delivery boy to know the exact price of the cylinder.
“At times, we are forced to pay what the delivery boy demands,” she said. When contacted on the issue, East Godavari LPG Dealers Association president A. Lakshmi-pati Rao said that the fluctuations in the price of the LPG cylinder will be according to oil companies pricing and the dealers will have no role to play in it.
