By Our Reporter
Shillong: Following various complaints from various localities of Shillong pertaining to the re-verification (KYC) of consumers of domestic LPG and irregular supply of LPG cylinders, the deputy commissioner of East Khasi Hills, Sanjay Goyal had convened a meeting with all the Gas agencies in the capital city here on Wednesday.
Goyal had earlier stated that the re-verification process is being carried out to unearth bogus card holders and to find out whether the LPG card holder is a genuine consumer or not.
EKH deputy commissioner Sanjay Goyal has stated that it was decided for KYC verification to be conducted as per the norms laid by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and any one of the documents specified in the form should be acceptable as the proof of residence for the consumer.
“The period of verification has been extended upto August 31 to give an opportunity to the consumers who were left out and could not submit their documents for re-verification”, Goyal stated.
The meeting has also decided to allow any member of the family to appear for submission of those documents to the concerned agencies for verification while stating that ‘personal appearance is not mandatory’. In relation to the complaints of the verification forms being sold to the consumers, the DC has stated that it was made clear that the forms are to be made available free of cost to all the consumers by all the gas agencies.
Meanwhile, reacting to the complaints of some agencies not adhering to home delivery, Goyal has said that he has taken a strong view over the issue and mentioned that home delivery is compulsory at a fixed rate of Rs 424 while adding that open/point-wise distribution is banned and illegal. “Any of the gas agencies not adhering to the home delivery upto the door step of the house of the consumer would be liable for penal action”, the DC said.
It was also informed that booking can be done over phone or online and there is no need for the consumer to physically go to the gas agencies office for booking.
Earlier, LPG consumers, many of them senior citizens, had complained that the re-verification process is an additional burden to them since they have to stand in a long queue almost for the entire day for the re-verification.
This complaint was made when The Khasi Pnar Gas Agency initiated the process of re-verifying the details of consumers using the LPG connection.
It may be mentioned that after the Khasi-Pnar, the LPG consumers of Longkmie Gas Agency complained of harassment by the agency who was handling the process of reverification of its consumers.