As of September 19, the ministry reported that 27.43 crore, or 89.9%, of active domestic LPG consumers have successfully completed the Beneficiary Authentication Application (BAA) process. These consumers will not be required to take any further action regarding this matter.
Pune: Domestic LPG consumers will have to complete biometric Aadhaar authentication (BAA) to book subsidised refills at the regulated retail selling price from Oct 1, Union petroleum ministry said on Saturday, giving consumers less than two weeks to complete the process. The ministry said 27.43 crore, or 89.9% of active domestic LPG consumers, had completed BAA as of Sept 19 and would not need to take any further action.
The authentication is aimed at ensuring that subsidised LPG reaches genuine households, while helping identify duplicate and ineligible connections and prevent diversion of subsidised domestic cylinders for commercial and industrial use, it said.
A representative of the All India LPG Distributors Federation, Maharashtra , said distributors had been asking consumers to complete KYC for nearly a year and that the latest announcement had now provided clarity on the Oct 1 deadline. The association representative said consumers should regularise their connections before the deadline, including by transferring the connection to the family member who is actually using it, so that the connection can be linked to Aadhaar of the genuine user and KYC completed.
The ministry said they can continue to receive LPG by registering through their oil marketing company’s (OMC) digital channels that they can buy it at the applicable market price without subsidy. However, he said there was still no clarity on the market price that consumers who do not complete BAA would have to pay. Importantly, consumers who do not complete BAA will not be denied LPG altogether. Such consumers will be supplied with LPG in 5kg or 10kg cylinders, subject to local availability.