Nine cylinders : A fantastic yarn - A wait of 60/90 days
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 26, 2012 -
A serpentine queue outside a gas agency at Kangpokpi :: Pix - TSE
Nine subsidised LPG cylinders in a year. Loads of bunkum and all gas. In the purported intention to help the people tide over the 6 cylinders per year cap by adding three more cylinders from its own kitty, lies one of the finest yarns spun by the spin doctors of the State Government.
The gas news column religiously published by all the State newspapers everyday does not lie.
A case of statistics alone telling the whole truth. Simple arithmetic should do.
Delivery notice issued after 60 days of booking or at times even close to 90 days and it should be clear to all that at the most the average consumer can get a refilled LPG only four or five times in a year from the agency.
That is if the year passes off without any major economic blockade or bandh on the highways and elsewhere.
And the average consumer makes up the majority of the public, the segment which the Government was addressing to when it announced that three more cylinders would be added to the cap of six cylinders per year.
Nothing short of the ludicrous. To be fair to the State Government, the three additional cylinders announcement may have been dictated by the signals emanating from the Centre to all Congress ruled States.
More a case of falling in line with the instructions issued by the Centre than any genuine effort to ensure that the people are not deprived of their share of subsidised cooking gas.
Either way it is not amusing. It would have made more sense if the Government had rather issued strict instructions to all the Ministers, MLAs and the officialdom to stop throwing their weight around and demand bulk LPG supply from the dealers.
A cap on the consumption of cooking gas to six cylinders per year. The assurance that the State Government would ensure another three filled cylinders and take the total to nine.
The script appears perfect to describe a Government which feels and understands the pulse beat of the people.
However things do not always go according to the script and in this case it borders more on a fantasy penned by some of the most fertile minds from the stable of the political leaders.
The reality is, cooking gas does not come anywhere near the realm of a fantasy but borders more on the night mare.
There are reasons why charcoal continues to sell briskly for it doubles up as cooking fuel when the LPG cylinder runs dry.
The point is, if six cylinders can be delivered to a consumer religiously per year then cooking gas will not be the nightmare that we are talking about now, which in effect should negate the need for another three.
Instead of coming up with grandiose announcement such as nine cylinders in a year, the Government would be doing something much more substantive if it makes a sincere effort to crack the fuel cartel, notably the LPG black market, which is thriving.
And no cartel can thrive without the patronage of the powerful and influential.
Will the Congress Government have the moral compunction to crack the whip against the black marketeers and nail some of the big fishes ?
The answer will most probably fall in the negative but it is a challenge that we would like to raise to the Government.
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