LPG delivery boys fleecing consumers
Karimnagar: The delivery boys of some LPG dealers in Karimnagar district are fleecing the consumers to a tune of lakhs of rupees by demanding additional charges from them, for transporting the gas cylinder to their door step.
The MRP price of LPG gas cylinder is RS 764. The delivery boys charge Rs 800 in urban areas and Rs 820 in rural areas. They are even demanding more than that in some remote villages.
There are about 12,35,838 families in the erstwhile united Karimnagar district. Of these, 8,02,499 families have LPG connections. Besides these, there are about 1.5 lakh gas connections under the Telangana government’s ‘Deepam’ scheme. LPG gas suppliers Indane, Hindustan, and Bharat petroleum companies have 103 certified dealers in Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Rajanna Sircilla and Jagtial districts.
According to Food and Civil Supplies Department, LPG distributors and delivery boys cannot demand delivery charges if the consumer’s house is within five km radius. If the cylinder has to be delivered to a destination beyond five km, then the delivery boy can collect a tip of Rs 1.6 for every km. No extra charges can be collected even if the house is in the top floor.
In fact, the rate of gas cylinder Rs 764 includes transportation charges also. the transport charges of Rs 16.47 will be borne by the gas agencies. If any consumer gets the cylinder from the godown personally then he/she has to pay Rs 747.53 only, excluding transportation charge of Rs 16.47. As many as four lakh families in remote rural areas have been paying a huge sum of Rs 60 to the delivery boys as transport charges.
Many consumers cough up the sum demanded by the delivery boys, fearing that they may delay the delivery next time, if they don’t pay the extra amount. In this way, the ‘extra’ collection by delivery boys per family is summing up to about Rs 300 to Rs 500 per annum and according to rough estimation, a total of about Rs 24 crore is being robbed from the consumers across the undivided Karimnagar district.
By Bhagyanagar Bhaskar Kumar