Hyderabad LPG Agencies See Heavy Rush Ahead of August 23 e-KYC Deadline

Cooking gas agencies in Hyderabad and across Telangana are experiencing unusually high customer footfalls as domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumers scramble to complete their Aadhaar biometric e-KYC authentication ahead of the August 23 deadline.

The rush was triggered by messages sent from oil marketing companies (OMCs), including Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL, and BPCL. The alerts urged domestic consumers to finish e-KYC immediately to prevent disruptions in LPG supply at domestic rates. The deadline, previously set for August 16, was extended to August 23.

The sudden influx of customers has led to long queues, extended wait times, and frayed tempers at distributorships across the region. The process has been further hindered by technical glitches, with servers frequently slowing down or failing to process biometric authentication.

According to Telangana LPG Distributors Association president Jagan Mohan Reddy, several city distributors have been handling 200 to 300 customers daily in recent days. Normally, only a handful of consumers visit distributorships to transfer connections or apply for second cylinders.

The e-KYC initiative aims to eliminate ghost consumers and prevent the diversion of domestic cylinders. While subsidies on domestic refills have dwindled over the years, the authentication drive created panic among households, including those benefiting from the PM Ujjwala Yojana and Telangana's Mahalakshmi scheme.

Concerns spread among consumers that non-compliant households would be forced to purchase cylinders at commercial rates. However, senior oil company officials dismissed these fears as unfounded, stating that the government has issued no official communication regarding cylinder pricing for those who miss the deadline.

Officials noted that while a significant portion of consumers have completed authentication, the deadline might be extended again. Officials also acknowledged that some connections remain unauthenticated because users have passed away, switched to piped natural gas (PNG), or remained inactive.