My 'New' Gas Connection in Bangalore
About 3 years ago, I got a new job in Bangalore, moved in with my wife and with a dream to make a small independent living for us. I knew some learning was in way because in my home town I had things already made available to me. But here I would build them from scratch.
Getting a house was not much of a struggle but the struggle that I would like to talk about is getting a cooking gas cylinder!
As soon as I realized that I need a gas cylinder, I put my research cap on and made a list of all gas agencies near my house. Internet does not let you down on information so two categories appeared in front of me one was the Government Authorized ones like Indane and HP, I had heard about them before and the other category was of private agencies, which had names I had never heard before like 'ELF' .
It all started with calling all the gas agencies from the list I made. I did not know the local language but I realized I could almost communicate what I wanted to. Here is how a few conversations went
I: Hello is that Abc Gas agency
Mr. Phone Operator: Yaare XXXXXXXXXXX
(XXXX means I did not understand what he said)
I (with a pause) : English or Hindi Please.
Mr. Phone Operator: lla Saar , XXXXXXXXXXX
(So I understood it means “no I know only Kannada”)
I (with a pause again) : “New “!, “ Cylinder ” !
Mr. Phone Operator (as if he had spoken this lot of times): “Ration Card”?
I : “No Ration Card” !
Mr. Phone Operator (again as if he had spoken this a lot of times): “No Ration Card - No Cylinder”.
I got it all crystal clear. So I needed a Ration Card to get a Cylinder. I got more confirmation when all the government authorized agencies said the same thing, going and meeting them personally did not make any difference and trying to seek a shortcut option from them definitely did not make a difference.
Like I did try to approach the agencies saying “is there any shorter way of getting a cylinder?“, Like any “black way of getting a cylinder ?”. I did not get answers like yes sure, there is one way like pay me the x amount and I shall give you your cylinder. Rather I got answers like “Hooo, No Sar!” .I guess I don’t know how to say “I am willing to pay bribe”! Or these people were just very honest people.
Private gas agencies gave me a choice of a cylinder which had less gas, were more expensive and had more refundable deposit than the government. cylinder available. But the private cylinder was available that very moment!
With some random interaction with people I gathered that the government one is cheaper and are ‘safe’. Since the public opinion was in favor of the safer option. I obviously wanted to go for the difficult but safe option – the government. authorized agencies one. The money saving was an added advantage with this option.
I certainly did not know that me deciding to choose this option was just a wish to gods, it was not like any other product you buy in the market. You though you want a gas connection, went to the Gas Agency, came with money in your pocket and though you could get it - that easy? Well not so.
As per the rules:-
1> You need to have a Ration Card.
2> Need to have an address proof.
3> Need to have an Identity proof.
4> If you had a Rational Card in any other state, you need to go that state. Get your name cancelled. Get a letter of no objection from the Authority (I did not figure which Authority would that be from the hundreds I keep hearing )
The 4th point was applicable for me I had a Ration Card, thanks to my parents they got my name included in the ration card thinking they were doing their duty as a good citizen and it probably had other advantages. But this was in a state far off from Bangalore.
So if I had to follow the procedure I had to apply for leave in my new job ( I was some 15 days old on this job ), hope that the ration card office is operational in my part of the city, plan the number of days I would stay in the city to get the name off my list, get a no objection letter from them and then return to Bangalore so that they can start ‘processing ‘ my request for a new ration card.
I say “hope that the ration card office is operational“above because in about 10 years, I had seen the Ration Shop open ‘once’, that’s when I got the Rationed Sugar from them and I was praised a lot by my father , as if I had achieved a gold medal . The praise was something like I was so lucky to find the shop open as every time he went for to the ration shop, he found it closed. It seldom opened.
The reason I needed to contact the ration shop or the ration shop manager was to know who do I need to go to get my name cut off from the ration card and get the No objection letter , not that I expect him to do it instantly right there and then. Well I was expecting it to be a task like (you need to go to A office who would further tell me to go to B office who would further tell me to go to C office). The ration shop was the point to begin.
A thought of doing all this made me fuming with all the wrong things with the system, the unpractical nature of the setup, the people who had laid these so called policies and rules. I though getting the cylinder through straight means is a joke and it appeared that these rules made are to dissuade people from getting a gas connection. It is a perfect alternative for ‘Not’ giving a gas connection to the needy as the cylinders are always in shortage anyway.
In pursuit of the rational card I made multiple trips to the local Food and Supplies Office (the Ration Card Office) to talk about the possibility of my Ration Card getting created. Multiple times because the timings are not publically available so I got late some times and other times the officer was not there. All to be accepted as my bad luck!
The first job was to fill a form in Kannada. I asked the gentleman sitting in the queue for his Ration card for what the blank lines should be filled with and managed to give the form to the officer before the office closed for the day.
When the Officer looked at the form he asked me if I had a Ration Card in Delhi for which I said ‘yes’. I did not know honesty in not a good policy in all government offices.
He immediately gave the form back saying the expected; I should first get my name in the Delhi Ration card cancelled, get a NOC (No objection Certificate from some authorized body) then is when I can submit the request for ration card here. The procedure will take about a month which involves my file to go from one table to another in the Bangalore office and also involved a ration card officer to visit my home to verify my identity.
On hearing this, some questions that zoomed though my mind of a novice in the Ration Card world
Why should I not get a gas connection if I have a ration card of out of state, after all both states are in India?
Why should I take the trouble to get my name cancelled in the ration call made in other state, would the Ration card authority not do it ?
Why are the ration card office not interconnected. Why can’t a request sent with my identification to them by mail be translated to a name shift in the other state?
Being an software developer the answer to me was a plain vanilla Data base system which just manages the names and identities and transfers the names to the other state on a few clicks.
What purpose does the ration card solve any way? Why not keep track of people with better sophisticated ways .Have they ever heard of a PAN number?
I collected myself, stepped back and calculated the time and money for the whole procedure it would take for me, if at all, all that procedural work was possible.
Take a week’s leave from office + go to Delhi by flight/Train (Rs 3000) + go to the Ration Card office in Delhi, get my name cancelled (Rs 100) + Get the NOC form Some Office (Rs 100) + Bribe if the officer in Delhi demands for doing his job Rs(X)
Total Money = About Rs 4000 at least .
Total Time = 1.5 Week or at least 10 Days if I am lucky.
I don’t think my calculation was exaggerated. But I was certainly not willing to pay four thousand bucks or more for a cylinder when I could get it for a deposit of thousand bucks.
I stormed back at the officer –“Sir you want me to go to Delhi and get my name canceled on a document which I almost never made use of and get you a certificate that I don’t know where to even get it from?
And all this is just so that I can get gas here to cook food?
It is my right to get a gas connection if I move to a new city, why should it be such a hassle for me, don’t you have a procedure to do the ration card transfer? ”
I probably said a lot of things which he himself had realized the first time he got to know of the procedure. It was just his job to go through them , he obviously did not feel proud of these rules.
When I had done with a lot of talking. He looked at me and asked me why do you need a ration card? I said for the Gas Cylinder of course.
He looked down at the form and wrote something like which meant “For Gas Cylinder” and kept it aside on a bundle of some other similar forms.
Well that was it! He told me to go home and come in about a month when the verification is done.
So in short I cleared the first step. I thanked the officer and shared the appreciation I had for him.
Now what was next?
I inquired and got to know after a couple of weeks that officer verification is an important step and I should wait for him to visit.
Days passed, made weeks and weeks made 2 months. We finally received a call from a verification officer who said he will be coming in for verification in 5 minutes. We waited and waited, he never came.
After a week we went to the Ration Card office and met the officer who was supposed to come. He told me that he found our home locked and did not speak to us on phone!
Well I accepted his explanation, thinking there must be some ghost who called me that day.
I requested him to forward our file, now that he sees us in front of him. He obliged and we came to the last day of photo shoot for the card. I finally got my ration card in a total of about 3 months from the day of request.
I had already explained to the gas agency that I am getting the card that day after a great struggle and will rush to you once it is with me. The agency did not let me down and I finally got to the table of signing the final forms of hand over of the cylinder.
But I was desperate and was blinded with the happiness of getting the ration card. I forgot to see they had given me an extra Cooking Gas Lighter in the bill. When I asked why was the lighter there and above all why was the ‘charge’ for the lighter there?
I got an answer that “This we will give.” I replied that I already have a lighter at home, but she again gave the same answer “No this we will give.”
Well I didn’t care if you give me a lighter and charge me a few more hundreds. Now that I was getting the cylinder, I paid the dam bill (with the no use lighter amount) and came home victorious with the cylinder (and the lighter).
We celebrated the arrival of our cooking cylinder and ended our mundane daily acts of eating at the nearby Dhaba .
But the happiness was not complete till we had a double cylinder. The agency told me that the Government had stopped the issuance of the 2nd cylinder for people who have just got their first cylinder and I was told to wait for a customary 3 months or so. They said this was justified as the cylinders were in short supply.
There starts a new wait, the wait for the 2nd cylinder not to mention the struggle.
To be continued…..
My concluding message from this experience:
My friends, getting your first government gas connection is a Herculean task which might need the blessings of elders , contacts of elders , tremendous amount of patience , tremendous amount of travel and above all “faith” in our government processes. And let me add if you are doing it all alone a never say die attitude.
Getting a house was not much of a struggle but the struggle that I would like to talk about is getting a cooking gas cylinder!
As soon as I realized that I need a gas cylinder, I put my research cap on and made a list of all gas agencies near my house. Internet does not let you down on information so two categories appeared in front of me one was the Government Authorized ones like Indane and HP, I had heard about them before and the other category was of private agencies, which had names I had never heard before like 'ELF' .
It all started with calling all the gas agencies from the list I made. I did not know the local language but I realized I could almost communicate what I wanted to. Here is how a few conversations went
I: Hello is that Abc Gas agency
Mr. Phone Operator: Yaare XXXXXXXXXXX
(XXXX means I did not understand what he said)
I (with a pause) : English or Hindi Please.
Mr. Phone Operator: lla Saar , XXXXXXXXXXX
(So I understood it means “no I know only Kannada”)
I (with a pause again) : “New “!, “ Cylinder ” !
Mr. Phone Operator (as if he had spoken this lot of times): “Ration Card”?
I : “No Ration Card” !
Mr. Phone Operator (again as if he had spoken this a lot of times): “No Ration Card - No Cylinder”.
I got it all crystal clear. So I needed a Ration Card to get a Cylinder. I got more confirmation when all the government authorized agencies said the same thing, going and meeting them personally did not make any difference and trying to seek a shortcut option from them definitely did not make a difference.
Like I did try to approach the agencies saying “is there any shorter way of getting a cylinder?“, Like any “black way of getting a cylinder ?”. I did not get answers like yes sure, there is one way like pay me the x amount and I shall give you your cylinder. Rather I got answers like “Hooo, No Sar!” .I guess I don’t know how to say “I am willing to pay bribe”! Or these people were just very honest people.
Private gas agencies gave me a choice of a cylinder which had less gas, were more expensive and had more refundable deposit than the government. cylinder available. But the private cylinder was available that very moment!
With some random interaction with people I gathered that the government one is cheaper and are ‘safe’. Since the public opinion was in favor of the safer option. I obviously wanted to go for the difficult but safe option – the government. authorized agencies one. The money saving was an added advantage with this option.
I certainly did not know that me deciding to choose this option was just a wish to gods, it was not like any other product you buy in the market. You though you want a gas connection, went to the Gas Agency, came with money in your pocket and though you could get it - that easy? Well not so.
As per the rules:-
1> You need to have a Ration Card.
2> Need to have an address proof.
3> Need to have an Identity proof.
4> If you had a Rational Card in any other state, you need to go that state. Get your name cancelled. Get a letter of no objection from the Authority (I did not figure which Authority would that be from the hundreds I keep hearing )
The 4th point was applicable for me I had a Ration Card, thanks to my parents they got my name included in the ration card thinking they were doing their duty as a good citizen and it probably had other advantages. But this was in a state far off from Bangalore.
So if I had to follow the procedure I had to apply for leave in my new job ( I was some 15 days old on this job ), hope that the ration card office is operational in my part of the city, plan the number of days I would stay in the city to get the name off my list, get a no objection letter from them and then return to Bangalore so that they can start ‘processing ‘ my request for a new ration card.
I say “hope that the ration card office is operational“above because in about 10 years, I had seen the Ration Shop open ‘once’, that’s when I got the Rationed Sugar from them and I was praised a lot by my father , as if I had achieved a gold medal . The praise was something like I was so lucky to find the shop open as every time he went for to the ration shop, he found it closed. It seldom opened.
The reason I needed to contact the ration shop or the ration shop manager was to know who do I need to go to get my name cut off from the ration card and get the No objection letter , not that I expect him to do it instantly right there and then. Well I was expecting it to be a task like (you need to go to A office who would further tell me to go to B office who would further tell me to go to C office). The ration shop was the point to begin.
A thought of doing all this made me fuming with all the wrong things with the system, the unpractical nature of the setup, the people who had laid these so called policies and rules. I though getting the cylinder through straight means is a joke and it appeared that these rules made are to dissuade people from getting a gas connection. It is a perfect alternative for ‘Not’ giving a gas connection to the needy as the cylinders are always in shortage anyway.
In pursuit of the rational card I made multiple trips to the local Food and Supplies Office (the Ration Card Office) to talk about the possibility of my Ration Card getting created. Multiple times because the timings are not publically available so I got late some times and other times the officer was not there. All to be accepted as my bad luck!
The first job was to fill a form in Kannada. I asked the gentleman sitting in the queue for his Ration card for what the blank lines should be filled with and managed to give the form to the officer before the office closed for the day.
When the Officer looked at the form he asked me if I had a Ration Card in Delhi for which I said ‘yes’. I did not know honesty in not a good policy in all government offices.
He immediately gave the form back saying the expected; I should first get my name in the Delhi Ration card cancelled, get a NOC (No objection Certificate from some authorized body) then is when I can submit the request for ration card here. The procedure will take about a month which involves my file to go from one table to another in the Bangalore office and also involved a ration card officer to visit my home to verify my identity.
On hearing this, some questions that zoomed though my mind of a novice in the Ration Card world
Why should I not get a gas connection if I have a ration card of out of state, after all both states are in India?
Why should I take the trouble to get my name cancelled in the ration call made in other state, would the Ration card authority not do it ?
Why are the ration card office not interconnected. Why can’t a request sent with my identification to them by mail be translated to a name shift in the other state?
Being an software developer the answer to me was a plain vanilla Data base system which just manages the names and identities and transfers the names to the other state on a few clicks.
What purpose does the ration card solve any way? Why not keep track of people with better sophisticated ways .Have they ever heard of a PAN number?
I collected myself, stepped back and calculated the time and money for the whole procedure it would take for me, if at all, all that procedural work was possible.
Take a week’s leave from office + go to Delhi by flight/Train (Rs 3000) + go to the Ration Card office in Delhi, get my name cancelled (Rs 100) + Get the NOC form Some Office (Rs 100) + Bribe if the officer in Delhi demands for doing his job Rs(X)
Total Money = About Rs 4000 at least .
Total Time = 1.5 Week or at least 10 Days if I am lucky.
I don’t think my calculation was exaggerated. But I was certainly not willing to pay four thousand bucks or more for a cylinder when I could get it for a deposit of thousand bucks.
I stormed back at the officer –“Sir you want me to go to Delhi and get my name canceled on a document which I almost never made use of and get you a certificate that I don’t know where to even get it from?
And all this is just so that I can get gas here to cook food?
It is my right to get a gas connection if I move to a new city, why should it be such a hassle for me, don’t you have a procedure to do the ration card transfer? ”
I probably said a lot of things which he himself had realized the first time he got to know of the procedure. It was just his job to go through them , he obviously did not feel proud of these rules.
When I had done with a lot of talking. He looked at me and asked me why do you need a ration card? I said for the Gas Cylinder of course.
He looked down at the form and wrote something like which meant “For Gas Cylinder” and kept it aside on a bundle of some other similar forms.
Well that was it! He told me to go home and come in about a month when the verification is done.
So in short I cleared the first step. I thanked the officer and shared the appreciation I had for him.
Now what was next?
I inquired and got to know after a couple of weeks that officer verification is an important step and I should wait for him to visit.
Days passed, made weeks and weeks made 2 months. We finally received a call from a verification officer who said he will be coming in for verification in 5 minutes. We waited and waited, he never came.
After a week we went to the Ration Card office and met the officer who was supposed to come. He told me that he found our home locked and did not speak to us on phone!
Well I accepted his explanation, thinking there must be some ghost who called me that day.
I requested him to forward our file, now that he sees us in front of him. He obliged and we came to the last day of photo shoot for the card. I finally got my ration card in a total of about 3 months from the day of request.
I had already explained to the gas agency that I am getting the card that day after a great struggle and will rush to you once it is with me. The agency did not let me down and I finally got to the table of signing the final forms of hand over of the cylinder.
But I was desperate and was blinded with the happiness of getting the ration card. I forgot to see they had given me an extra Cooking Gas Lighter in the bill. When I asked why was the lighter there and above all why was the ‘charge’ for the lighter there?
I got an answer that “This we will give.” I replied that I already have a lighter at home, but she again gave the same answer “No this we will give.”
Well I didn’t care if you give me a lighter and charge me a few more hundreds. Now that I was getting the cylinder, I paid the dam bill (with the no use lighter amount) and came home victorious with the cylinder (and the lighter).
We celebrated the arrival of our cooking cylinder and ended our mundane daily acts of eating at the nearby Dhaba .
But the happiness was not complete till we had a double cylinder. The agency told me that the Government had stopped the issuance of the 2nd cylinder for people who have just got their first cylinder and I was told to wait for a customary 3 months or so. They said this was justified as the cylinders were in short supply.
There starts a new wait, the wait for the 2nd cylinder not to mention the struggle.
To be continued…..
My concluding message from this experience:
My friends, getting your first government gas connection is a Herculean task which might need the blessings of elders , contacts of elders , tremendous amount of patience , tremendous amount of travel and above all “faith” in our government processes. And let me add if you are doing it all alone a never say die attitude.
Comments
Though I was spared in Mumbai with piped gas and private companies for other utilities !
Life has got spice with these BS things...Mere Bharat ke Sarkari Afsar Mahaan !! Unki Jai...nahin toh...