All those who booked till Dec 5 given refills, claims gas agency
More cases of manipulation tumble out
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 07 2015: Whereas GBD Indane Service has issued refills to consumers who made their bookings on August 20 or earlier, official records say that refills have been issued to all consumers who made their bookings on December 5 and earlier.

The date of booking cited as the latest date eligible of taking LPG refills as given on December 5 was August 20 and it was on December 5 GBD Indane Service distributed LPG refills at the latest.

But official records submitted to the IOC claimed that all consumers who made their bookings on December 5 and earlier have been issued refills.

Despite having backlog of more than three months, Khumbong Indane Grameen Vitrak like GBD Indane Service was claiming that all consumers who made their bookings on November 25 and earlier had been issued refills whereas in reality refills had been issued to only those consumers who made their bookings on August 31 and earlier.

File photo of a queue outside a gas agency

In the same manner, Canchi Indane Service was claiming that all consumers who made their bookings on December 3 and earlier had been issued refills whereas in reality only those consumers who made their bookings on September 21 and earlier were issued refills.

Given the misleading reports given by the three distributors to the IOC, a strong suspicion has been raised whether subsidised LPG refills have been misappropriated in bulk.

Meanwhile, there were reports about the management staff of Khumbong Indane Grameen Vitrak confessing their wrongdoings apart from giving assurance to take up certain corrective measures following intervention by local people.

GBD Indane Service has around 13831 active consumers out of whom 10590 are DBTL consumers.

Among the DBTL consumers, Thangjam Naresh (consumer no 44124) have been issued nine refills between April this year till date.

Corresponding subsidy amounts have also entered his bank account.

Eight refills each have been issued to 14 consumers, seven refills each to 25 consumers, six refills each to 17 consumers, five refills each to 90 consumers and four refills each to 393 consumers.

On the other end of the spectrum, 2425 consumers have received just one refill each.

In spite of this lop-sided distribution pattern, GBD Indane Service is rated excellent in terms of refill distribution.

Official records further claim that no application was submitted to the distributor for new LPG connection.

Meanwhile, IOC has initiated a number of measures to ensure LPG refills are issued to consumers on the day of booking or the next day after clearing the existing backlog of two/three months by January next year.