Lok Sabha Question No. 4127 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-27
Subject: Survey to Improve LPG Infrastructure
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: BHARATENDRA SINGH, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  4127 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27 TH  MARCH, 2017

## SURVEY TO IMPROVE LPG INFRASTRUCTURE

4127.   KUNWAR BHARATENDRA: SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE: DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT: DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN:

- पैट्रोलियम और प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्री Will the Minister of PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:
- (a)  whether the Government/State run Oil Companies have carried out/ proposes to carry  out  nationwide  survey  to  gauge  energy  infrastructure,  availability  of  cashless facilities and issues of cooking gas supplies in the country;
- (b)   if so, the details thereof along with the number of districts proposed to be covered thereunder;
- (c)   the aims and objectives including main points of the said survey and the time by which the said survey is likely to be completed; and
- (d)   the other steps taken/being taken by the Government for ensuring better gas supply and provide efficient customer services throughout the country?

पैट्रोलियम और प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्रािय में राज  ् य मंत्री ( स ् विंत्र प्रभार ) ( श्री धमेन ् द्र प्रधान )

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) to (c) :  Senior officials of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas  and Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been deputed to visit the Districts to assess the status of infrastructure  and  availability  of  petroleum  products  across  the  country  in  all  the districts.  The  visits  have  been  almost  completed  in  the  States  except  the  States  of Uttar  Pradesh,  Goa,  Punjab,  Manipur  and  Uttrakhand  where  the  Model  Code  of Conduct was in operation.  In this exercise, officials have been identified for visiting all the districts of the country and to assess the working of PMUY Scheme at the field level,  implementation of various initiatives taken by the Ministry for digital payments and  the  availability  of  infrastructure  for  smooth  supply  of  POL  products  at  the district/block level.

(d) :  The following consumer centric activities have been undertaken by the OMCs in last few months for better delivery of services :

## I.   E-SV (SAHAJ)

OMCs launched a facility by the name 'e-SV' on pilot basis in May 2015. 'e-SV' is the electronic  subscription  voucher  emailed  to  the  customer  upon  release  of  LPG connection  online.  Subscription  Voucher  indicates  the  number  of  cylinders  and pressure regulators loaned to the customer against the security deposit. The facility enables the customers to register, make payment online for availing LPG connection at his/her doorstep without visiting the LPG  distributorship.  Online  new  LPG connection is released after intercompany de-duplication in all districts where NIC has extended the facility. For the remaining districts, connections will be released as per the existing process of Intra Company de-duplication till NIC extends similar facility to the remaining districts.

## II.   DIGILOCKER

'Digital locker' facility has been implemented with a view to move towards paperless office. Under this facility, Subscription Vouchers (SVs) and Transfer Vouchers (TVs) are made available to consumers from Digilocker. Ministry of Petroleum& Natural Gas is the largest issuer of e-SV document linked to Aadhar in the country. This enables the  consumers to get the connections without hassles and also ensures safety and security of the documents without the fear of loss or damage.

## III.  PROMOTING DIGITAL MODE OF TRANSACTIONS

OMCs  have  undertaken  steps  to  promote  cashless  mode  of  transactions  in  LPG through putting in place required infrastructure. OMCs have announced cash discount of Rs. 5 per refill to such consumers who have booked their refill online.

## IV.   EMERGENCY HELPLINE NUMBER

This multilingual LPG Emergency Helpline was dedicated to the nation on 01.01.2016 by  the  Hon'ble  Minister  of  P&NG.  This  facility  is  available  24*7  operations  with  2 shifts  of  12  hours  each  for  attending  emergency  LPG  leakage  complaints.  The  call center is having a web based application for logging and viewing   monitoring the call logs & updation of the contact details of the mechanic & field officers.

## V.   SMART DELIVERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

It is an initiative to promote friendly mobile application for delivery boys with features like  smartcard  based  delivery  options,  real  time  delivery  confirmation  for  deliveries made, better control on delivery boys and supply chain and capturing of geographical coordinates of delivery location.

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