More than 85% of Maharashtra’s LPG consumers have completed the mandatory biometric Aadhaar authentication (BAA) by September 21, according to figures available with the state Food and Civil Supplies Department.
Most such cases are found in cities, where chains in the food business use subsidised cylinders meant for poor households. In some cases, hoteliers obtain such connections in the names of their employees. Other categories include consumers who have shifted to PNG, deceased beneficiaries and duplicate connections within the same household.
Maharashtra has over 25 million domestic LPG consumers, with more than 60% receiving a central government subsidy of ₹ 210 on a 14.2-kg cylinder, bringing the effective retail price down to ₹ 731. As on Sept 21, there were about 3.6 million consumers who hadn’t completed the authentication, an official of the state food and civil supplies department said. The department expects a few lakh more consumers to complete the BAA process before the October 1 deadline. “Even after this, the accumulated under-recoveries of public sector oil companies on domestic cylinders exceeded ₹ 62,000 crore as of August 31.
“The non-compliance is due to various reasons, foremost among them being the commercial use of subsidised domestic cylinders. In some cases, genuine consumers have been left out due to lack of awareness,” another official said. This is also due to the geopolitical situation, under which cylinders cost the companies around ₹ 1,500, against the subsidised consumer price of ₹ 731,” a letter from the Centre to the state government said.
