About 24 lakh illegal domestic gas connections in the state will not be cancelled for the time being, as per the instructions of chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda.
Energy minister Shobha Karandlaje had earlier decided to cancel illegal connections. However, Gowda announced that the cancellation should be halted until Deepavali.
“I have told the deputy commissioners (DCs) of the respective districts not to cancel the connections for the time being,” Karandlaje said. The LPG distributors had submitted a letter to DCs, requesting to give more time to the consumers to submit their electricity bills for address verifications. They had contended that if these connections will be cancelled, it might lead to law and order problems.
Deputy commissioner of Bangalore Urban district, MK Ayyappa, said the authorities knew that these 24 lakh-odd customers had illegal gas connections. He conceded that cancelling them would result in a problem for distributors as they would have to send back customers empty-handed once the cancellation becomes effective.
“We have, for now, halted the process. We will take further decision after October 31,” he said.
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.
The petition contends that hardly any dissent was seen either on the Internet or in resident welfare associations over Karandlaje’s order to cancel the illegal connections. “It’s only those who have illegal connections and their patrons in the government that have an issue with the disconnection drive,” the petition states.
The order was issued to save the annual loss of Rs1,200 crore to the exchequer. “Whether borne by the Centre or state, it is ultimately the tax-payer who is shouldering the burden. And it is these kinds of loots that are leading to the sky-rocketing inflation that we are facing,” the petition further reads. Through the petition, Praja has urged the chief minister to revoke the stay on cancelling the connections.
