Indian Oil Corporation launches verification drive to check bogus connections
14,697 connections of LPG consumers blocked
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 23 2012: So far, 14697 LPG consumers have been blocked for incomplete documents in the course of the ongoing verification process being conducted under instructions from the Indian Oil Corporation.

An official source informed that as the 14,697 consumers have been blocked in the IOC's computer system, they cannot book any more LPG refill.

The ongoing verification process is aimed at checking multiple connection and also to identify active consumers.

After the verification process is completed on October 31, the number of consumers blocked for incomplete documents is expected to rise.

The 14697 consumers who have been blocked in the IOC's computer system are those who have same names, multiple connections against the name of a single person, same names of parents, same addresses and incomplete addresses.

Yet, if any of these consumers are found genuine, their subscription licences would be re-activated.

It has been detected that around 80 per cent of consumers enlisted in different major LPG distributors do not have complete documents.

File pic of a long queue outside an LPG dealer

As per IOC's instructions, LPG sets should be installed at the consumers' houses by the distributors any time a new connection is made.

Installation charge is already taken by distributors when new connections are made.

But the general practice in Manipur is that distributors charge installation fees but they never go for installation of LPG sets.

Had the distributors followed the IOC's instruction of installing LPG sets at the consumers' houses by their staff, the problems of multiple connections and incomplete documents could have been averted.

There are around 2.96 lakh LPG cooking gas consumers in Manipur.

During the ongoing verification process, each consumer would be advised to take KYC (Know Your Customer) forms from their distributors.

IOC officials would visit the distributors and check that KYC forms have been issued.

Those who take KYC forms would be treated as active consumers and those who do not come to obtain the same forms would be treated as non-active consumers.

Once this process of enrolling KYC forms is completed and only the active consumers are listed, the number of LPG consumers which now stands at 2.96 lakhs would certainly come down.

It would also help in checking black-marketing of subsidised LPG refills.

As all the consumers are registered in the IOC's computer system, it would not be difficult to ensure that all the consumers get what is due to them, added the source.