Aadhaar SMS: LPG consumers in dilemma

SHILLONG: The consumers of subsidized Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) of Shillong region are a perturbed lot following a Short Messaging Service (SMS) alert sent to their mobile phones asking them to submit details of Aadhaar cards to the LPG distributors else their subsidy transfer will be kept on hold.
Ironically, the government is yet to cover the city residents under Aadhaar.
“Since you have not submitted Aadhaar at LPG distributors, your subsidy transfer is put on hold. Please submit Aadhaar immediately to resume subsidy transfer”, an SMS alert from VM-IODBTL said.
A frantic customer said that at a time when Aadhaar enrolment has not been done in Shillong, the sender of this SMS is trying to trigger panic among LPG consumers.
A few customers said that they would approach the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner P S Dkhar on Monday in this regard.
They also pointed out that on the one hand, the Supreme Court had not made Aadhaar compulsory, but now it is contradictory that LPG consumers will have to submit Aadhaar at a time when the government has not even started the process related to implementation of Aadhaar in city.
When contacted, a state government official dealing with NPR and Aadhaar said that since vendors are yet to be finalized, the process related to the preparation of NPR and Aadhaar is put on hold.
Neither the Deputy Commissioner nor the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)  Manager  S. Chakma returned the calls when The Shillong Times tried to contact them.