Nearly 76 lakh consumers across 20 districts in eight States and two Union territories would get their subsidy for domestic cooking gas directly in their bank accounts starting June 1.
The process is linked to Aadhaar number. Consumers need to provide their Aadhaar numbers to their LPG distributor as well as the bank where they hold their account.
“Subsidy would be paid in advance. For example, once a booking is done the subsidy would be transferred to the bank account,” Petroleum Secretary Vivek Rae told mediapersons.
Those who cannot complete the formalities by June 1, a grace period of three months is being given to complete the formalities pertaining to Know Your Customer (KYC).
After this period, all consumers who have not completed the formality will get LPG cylinders at market price, without any subsidy, till they complete the same, said Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily.
The Minister said that these 20 districts have nearly 89 per cent Aadhaar penetration. These are in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Goa, Puducherry, and Maharashtra.
The subsidy would be given up to nine cylinders per year. The Finance Ministry would disburse the subsidy amount to the oil marketing companies (IOC, BPCL and HPCL) every quarter, said Rae.
The estimated subsidy on LPG is around Rs 40,000 crore. Every quarter Rs 10,000 crore would be transferred to oil marketing companies, the Secretary added.
At the same time, nearly 63 lakh dubious cooking gas connections have been terminated after KYC drive was run by LPG distributors. This step has saved nearly Rs 2,000 crore of subsidy.