By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Being an LPG consumer in Shillong can be the most distressing experience. The woes begin with ‘would be’ LPG consumers first having to run from pillar to post for getting a new connection and then having to wait for months, sometimes for more than a year, for getting their connection.
But the woes do not end there. The consumer has to suffer endlessly while trying to book for a refill. In the absence of an effective SMS or an Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system or even the facility of booking over the telephone, the consumer has no option but to give up on his other pertinent activities and go and wait in a queue just to book for a refill cylinder.
However, the ordeal of the LPG consumer remains far from over as the gas agencies fail to deliver the refill cylinder even after two months of the booking, citing flurry of reasons, the most common one being, short supply from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
In the meantime, the District Administration, in an arbitrary decision, decided to start home delivery of LPG cylinders with an aim to prevent black marketing of the domestic LPG cylinders. Finally, the prayers of the consumers had been heard. The long wait at the queues since morning hours had ended. Despite several hiccups, the consumers were transferred to local gas agencies based on the residential address of the consumer and a crackdown on double LPG card holders began. However, the happiness of the LPG consumer proved to be fugacious.
Problems like overcharging by the gas agencies and by the labourers began to crop up. Despite attempts by the district administration the issues remained unsettled.
However, with the Union Government de-regulating the price of petrol and diesel and putting a cap on the supply of subsidized LPG cylinders, the LPG consumer faced the daunting task of managing the kitchen with only six cylinders at subsidized rates, even though the Government and the IOC had assured that a consumer can avail any number of LPG refills at an unsubsidized rate.
All the assurance came to naught when the gas agencies refused to provide refills even at unsubsidized rates, quoting short supply.
In the meantime, the price of an LPG cylinder in the black market touched Rs 1500. Initially raids were conducted by the Supply department, but these have died down now.
In an ‘election stunt’ the Congress Government in the State promised two additional subsidized cylinders to every consumer in a year before the polls and brought the number down to one immediately after coming to power.
As the exasperated LPG consumer was slowly coming to terms with the obduracy of the gas agencies, the District Administration, in the most covert manner possible, recalled the home delivery system in Shillong from June.
The LPG consumers in the city were caught unawares by this sudden and indifferent attitude of the district administration. Since mid-June, nostalgic scenes have began resurfacing across the city where LPG consumers are again seen waiting in queues for long hours at the delivery point(s) to pick up their refill cylinders.
When a response was sought on why the home delivery was done away with, and that too without any prior notification and public information, Deputy Commissioner (Supply) Sanjay Goyal on Tuesday stated that the Government has resorted to the old system of ‘point delivery’ where LPG cylinders would be delivered in certain locations in a locality.
He informed that the ‘point delivery’ of LPG cylinders have been taken up to clear the backlogs as per the request of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
“I had received a letter of request from the IOC to clear the backlog and we are trying to clear the same within three months through the point delivery system,” he said.
Goyal also informed that the gas agencies have complained that they have huge number of customers and they were unable to deliver the LPG at the doorsteps in time, resulting in backlog.
“Shillong is the only city in the North East that has a backlog of three months,” Goyal said, while adding that consumers who had booked their LPG in April have not yet been delivered the LPG refill.
Goyal, however, asserted that consumers can still avail the home delivery of LPG cylinders for an amount of Rs 435 per domestic cylinder, while people who wish to receiver their cylinders from the ‘delivery points’ would have to pay Rs 425 per cylinder.
The Government is hoping that the backlog would be cleared with the earlier system, Goyal said, adding that there may be a backlog of more than 15000 LPG cylinders, even though the actual number is not known.