The Centre’s decision to limit the number of subsidised LPG cylinders per household to six annually could spell doom to those living in apartment complexes.
Following the government announcement, gas agencies have decided to restrict the number of subsidised cylinders for an entire flat society to six, irrespective of the number of families residing there.
Many flat societies in the state have centralised gas distribution or piped gas system. As per the system, LPG is stored at a particular place in the apartment complex and distributed to all the flats of that complex through pipelines.
With the new decision, an entire apartment complex or a housing society will be treated as a single consumer.
An official of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited said the regulation has been made as the Union Government reduced the number of subsidised cylinders per consumer.
“As of now, an apartment with a single connection will get only three subsidised LPG cylinders for the rest of the financial year,” he said.
The government took such a step to curb the misuse of subsidised LPG cylinders, he said.
“Many apartments were found misusing the facility. Even when many flats lie vacant, cylinders are taken for hundreds of families. A large quantity of cylinders were found to be misused by a small group of families in these flats,” he said.
However, the decision has evoked widespread protests among LPG consumers staying in flat complexes.
Apartment owners have already come out against the decision.
“Six subsidised cylinders for an entire apartment will not last even for a day as there are hundreds of flats using the single connection,” said M V Antony, CREDAI president, Kochi.
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