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LPG Akrama

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Politics

Draw you own conclusions on the state of the Banana Republic & make nte of all these people when you vote. 

The ministers, who opposed the ‘cleansing act’ of the department, reportedly told Shobha that she should not be unduely concerned about the ‘bogus connections’ as it was the Centre which was supplying the subsidised cylinders.

Source

 

There are 138 LPG dealers in the city and all of them are worried about the consequences they may face once the department cancels all illegal connections. “Each of us has 4,000 to 5000 customers. Even if LPG connections to 100 consumers are suspended, they will mob our dealership. We fear this will have frightening repercussions,”

Source

Khader, who was more vociferous, said Karandlaje has stirred a hornet’s nest by threatening to take away LPG connections from people 

Source

 

PR_LPG_1 (1)

Comments

idontspam's picture

Sakrama

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I am still trying to understand why illegality is being sakrama-fied in all alks of life. When will citizens demand clarity in the definition & provisioning process.

OTOH is the issuance process also being cleansed while the scaremongering is happening on the other side? This is the equivelant of the BDA first approving gated communities & then stating that it is illegal. 

srinidhi's picture

end subsidies..

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this will avoid the pilferage..

we are surviving pertrol de-control and they are trying to do it for diesel..

 

murali772's picture

Rs 1200 cr per annum loot

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At a meeting chaired by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, some ministers brought pressure on Shobha to withdraw the GO as the process of weeding out the bogus LPG claimants was not done in a scientific manner. The ministers, who opposed the ‘cleansing act’ of the department, reportedly told Shobha that she should not be unduely concerned about the ‘bogus connections’ as it was the Centre which was supplying the subsidised cylinders. Gowda, soon after he became chief minister, had expressed his reservation regarding the removal of illegal connections which was countered by Shobha. In the meeting, with too many senior colleagues raising objection, she had no choice but to announce she would withdraw the GO. Shobha was not available for comments.

The minsters who are opposing Shobha Karandlaje's move are obviously harbouring vested interests. The question is is the CM also party to it all?

Mr Harish Gowda, IAS, Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Dept, GoK, through the linking up of LPG connections with BESCOM meter numbers, had come up with an almost fool-proof scheme of unearthing bogus domestic LPG connections. At the end of it all, he was poised to disconnect close to 25 lakh bogus connections, saving the exchequer close to Rs 100 cr a month (or a whopping Rs 1200 cr a year). That is the size of the loot being shared by the players involved, including the dealers (whose reasonings are laughable, at best), and their patrons in the government.

Whether borne by the centre or the state, it is ultimately the tax payer who is shouldering the burden. And, when we say tax payer, the general impression is that it is just the rich, in the belief that tax means just the income tax. What is not quite realised is that the larger revenue chunk comes from indirect taxes, like excise duty, sales tax, service tax, etc, which are leviable on every product and service, consumed even by the aam aadmi. And, it is these kinds of loots that are leading to the sky-rocketing inflation that we are facing all along. So, it is in everyone's interest to put a stop to the goings on.

Perhaps, PRAJA-RAAG will take a lead and send out a memo to the CM.

Muralidhar Rao
idontspam's picture

1300 crores pilferage every year

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 The question is is the CM also party to it all?

Twenty-five lakh families who face the threat of their LPG gas connections being scrapped could heave a sigh relief as chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday assured that the move has been put on hold for now

Source

At an average of 30days of use per cylinder 25 lakh illegal consumers suck 112 crores from the exchequer every month. That is a loss of 1300 crores every year which is being footed by people stupid enough to get legal connections

murali772's picture

lessons not learnt

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Twenty-five lakh LPG connections which were terminated by Shobha Karandlaje, minister for energy, food and civil supplies, in the drive to weed out illegal connections, have been restored by chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda. The CM's decision follows public outcry and also pressure from ministers who apparently faced public wrath.

For the full report in the ToI, click here.

If there was some truth to this so called "public outcry", one would have seen some bit of it on the net too. But, apart from one single individual (whose opinion, I am choosing to discount), no body else has raised the matter as yet over the very many e-groups that I am part of. Neither has the matter come up during RWA meets. As such, very clearly, it's only those who have illegal connections, and their patrons in the government, that have an issue with the dis-connection drive ordered in all sincerety by the Civil Suplies minister, Smt Shobha Karandlaje.

The stance of the ministers opposing the ‘cleansing act’ that "Shobha should not be unduely concerned about the ‘bogus connections’ as it was the Centre which was supplying the subsidised cylinders", clearly gives their game away.

And, DVS's reversing the order, clearly shows that the lessons of BSY and his land scam associates landing up in jail has not gone home with his government. A scam ia scam whether dealing with land, or with LPG, and the punishment for both can't be different.

Muralidhar Rao
murali772's picture

DNA report

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Gowda’s decision to revoke the cancellation has not gone down well with everyone. Activists from Praja and Research, Analysis and Advocacy Group (Praja-RAAG) have submitted a petition to Gowda to reinstate the order. “Karandlaje’s order was a culmination of a fairly thorough and fool-proof exercise. If there was some truth to this so-called public outcry against the order, one would have seen some bit of it on the Internet too,” reads the petition signed by Muralidhar Rao, the president of Praja.

For the full text, click here

Muralidhar Rao
idontspam's picture

Thanks Murali...

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...for sending out the petition. At some point elected reps should have enough integrity & command enough respect to tell the people not to interpret the word democracy to mean lassiez faire abuse. Integrity is a two way street, lumpen elements cannot hold a system to ransom.

idontspam's picture

Modus Operandi

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 After a bit of prodding, he said I could get one connection registered by some Narasimha Murthy who is not using his cylinder. I got the customer number and every time I book the cylinder, it is in Murthy’s name. I pay Rs 800 for the cylinder. I have no other options

Source

Also, inquiries have revealed that the majority of gas distribution agencies are owned by politicians’ kin — an obvious reason behind the pressure being exerted on the government to stall the exercise of eliminating fake connections.

Is IAC or Lokayukta listening?

murali772's picture

perpetuating the racket

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Good news for those who have more than two cooking gas connections at home. Food & civil supplies minister Shobha Karandlaje on Saturday said her department won’t act against illegal gas connections, at least for now. - - - “Earlier this month, the department directed us to disconnect illegal connections. But consumers opposed it and the CM gave instructions not to proceed,” said a gas agency proprietor.

For the full report in the ToI, under the headline '12 lakh LPG consumers breathe easy', click here.

So, does having two gas connections, make one of them illegal? If yes, and they have been identified, why is the government shirking from cutting them off? And, when the agency proprietor talks about "consumers opposing the move", what validity is there to it?

Further, shouldn't ToI be captioning the article as '12 lakh racketeers breathe easy'?

Muralidhar Rao
idontspam's picture

Praja RAAG petition

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Attached petition to the blog post above

murali772's picture

GoI alerted

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Through this letter, have alerted the Ministry of Petroleum, GoI, on the complicity of GoK in the Rs 1200 cr loot.

May be after sometime, I'll raise a query under RTI as to what action has been taken.

Muralidhar Rao
kbsyed61's picture

way forward?

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Source - Times Of India

The government may soon come out with a scheme urging affluent consumers to volunteer against buying subsidised cooking gas (LPG) cylinders that are currently being retailed at almost Rs 300 less than market rates. The idea is to replicate what happened some years back, when people who could afford it stopped buying food grains from public distribution system (PDS) despite having ration cards.

....Petroleum ministry officials said that under the scheme, modalities of which are still being worked out, it is proposed to first ask the ministers, members of Parliament, bureaucrats and the senior management of public sector companies to give up subsidised LPG voluntarily.

Taking the cue, other sections like corporate honchos and businessmen who can afford market price would then also be asked to give up subsidised LPG.

idontspam's picture

LPG Vs Rice

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I dont think people gave up buying at PDS because govt asked them to. It happened because the retail boom happened & variety & volumes were available everywhere. Competition gave me a good price. The market did this, not the govt.

Follow this model in LPG as well. 

Naveen's picture

Remove All Subsidy

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Subsidy leakages aplenty - & the urban middle classes again unwilling to relent, not to mention the politicians' offering them more 'gas to burn the fire' -- the story is repeating itself all over again.

The only option is to just remove ALL subsidies (PDS, Gas, Petrol, Diesel & what have you) in one clean sweep & come up with a scheme where Railways /State & City Transport Undertakings, & bonafide licensed truck /bus operators can claim the subsidy, but first, they must all pay uniformly without any subsidy - this will also stem the misuse of operating trucks/taxis/autos/buses, etc illegally.

Newer opportunities for corruption (ie. denial of subsidy until bribed, etc) can be stemmed to make it mandatory for such returns to be handled electronically (for railways & corporations) or through a card system that is delivered when licenses are renewed for individual owners.

For PDS, until UID becomes a reality (if ever), they would have to come up with a system of tamper-proof coupons, as previously discussed.

murali772's picture

nobody need give up what's legitimately due

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What has been happening is that households have availing more than one LPG connections, and then trading in them, in connivance with the dealers (largely relatives of politicos). The linking up with the ESCOM RR nos brought out this figure at a whopping 25 lakhs, accounting for Rs 1200 cr per annum, in Karnataka alone. As long as the subsidy policy is in place, nobody need give up what's due to him/ her. But, just by preventing the illegal stretching of the subsidy scheme to the 2nd connection and beyond itself, the GoI will save Rs 1200 cr x (28 states + 7 Union territories), which can certainly put a simle back on Pranab-da's presently scowling face, particularly in the current pre-budget season.

Muralidhar Rao
kbsyed61's picture

Basis for legitimately due?

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How does subsidized commodities become legitimate dues to those who doesn't deserve? Why not pay the market determined price? Too much to ask from enlightened middle class?

As Naveen suggested the remedy lies in completely removing the subsidies on at least petroleul products and allow for choices & competition. The  mechanism could be to allow PT service providers to get the difference of actual price and subsidized price by claiming in yearly IT filings. For small players like autos, taxis, Lorry, Trucks, some other suitable provisions to avail on daily basis.

Too much to ask for? Clearly a choice between choosing what I should do and What I don't deserve?

murali772's picture

how long can this be allowed to go on?

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Jailed mining king G. Janardhana Reddy took a whopping 240 subsidised cylinders in 12 months. That is one cylinder for every one-and-a-half days. Compare this to a maximum of 12 cylinders a citizen gets annually. The Central exchequer lost Rs.1.92 lakh but Reddy didn't even get a rap on the knuckles.

The Food and Civil Supplies Department (FCSD) and oil companies have found many Janardhana Reddys in every district, diverting gas cylinders to the black market. Former minister B. Somashekar of the Janata Dal (United), himself a gas dealer, told India Today: "As a politician, I am telling you that 90 per cent of the LPG dealers and blackmarketeers in the state are either politicians, bureaucrats, or their kin."

The political class's direct involvement is evident from a superficial look at the gas dealers in Karnataka. The gas dealers' association head is Radhakrishna, Union minister Mallikarjun M. Kharge's son-in-law. M. Nagaratnamma, wife of Union minister K.H. Muniyappa, also owns a gas dealership. Nearly every other gas dealer is either an MLA or the relative of one.

For the full report in "India Today', click here.

Not surprising that the loot has been going on for so long. But, can the civil society afford to just sit and watch while such huge sums of tax payers' money is being stolen right under thier nose?

Muralidhar Rao
murali772's picture

Kerosene-free Delhi

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Delhi is set to become the first kerosene-free city in the country with the government all geared up to launch an ambitious scheme on Tuesday under which 3.56 lakh households will get LPG cylinder and a gas stove free.

For the full report in Yahoo news, click here.

Well, if the Akrama that's been going on for ages is put an end to, Karnataka can also afford this.

Muralidhar Rao
murali772's picture

domestic LPG misuse on the decline

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A tight vigil against diversion of subsidized fuel meant for domestic use seems to be paying off. The consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), commonly called cooking gas, has started to dip since government capped sale of subsidized cylinders to every household and for the first time ever, sales have fallen for two successive months in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year. Consumption fell 0.7% in April 2013 over April 2012 while in May the fall was more pronounced at 5.2%.

Interestingly, while sales of the 14.2-kg cylinder meant for domestic use has dipped, officials said consumption of the 19-KG cylinder meant for commercial purposes has grown around 10% since September 2012 (when the order to cap subsidized cylinder was announced).

It is evident that diversion of subsidized LPG for commercial and automotive purposes has halted.


For the full report in the ToI, click here.

More than the capping, I expect, has been the effect of linking the connection to the ESCOM RR no.

The misuse could be further curbed once the Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfer of LPG subsidy (DBTL), which has already started in Tumkur (check this ToI report), comes into effect across the country.

This is the genuine route to reach subsidies to the beneficiaries, as compared to the "food security bill", which is essentially to perpetuate the vested interests.

Muralidhar Rao
kbsyed61's picture

Exclusion!

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It only shows that if done properly, results can be achieved even in govt setups. Moving forward, I would assume there will be an attempt to exclude the rich and upper middle class and all those who can afford at Market rate. Rightly so, why give the subsidy to those of us who can easily afford?

One step at a time is the lesson learned.

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