Kolkata: The deadline for completing e-KYC for domestic LPG connections may have been extended by a week, from Aug 16 to Aug 23, but there has been little respite for consumers struggling to complete the mandatory process.Persistent server glitches, some lasting for hours, and recurring problems with the apps and online systems of oil marketing companies (OMCs) have slowed the exercise to a crawl. The result has been long queues outside LPG dealerships, with consumers often waiting for hours without knowing whether their e-KYC can be completed.Dealers spokesman Bijon Bihari Biswas said, “The problem became particularly acute on Aug 15, when the server remained dysfunctional until around 2.30 pm. With transactions virtually stalled for a large part of the day, consumers continued to arrive at dealerships, adding to the backlog.”The extension of the deadline to Aug 23 was expected to ease the pressure that had built up ahead of the earlier Aug 16 cut-off. Instead, dealers said technical problems have continued to hamper the process, limiting the number of consumers they can handle despite the additional seven days.The situation has also exposed the dependence of the entire e-KYC exercise on the OMCs’ digital infrastructure. Even when dealership staff are available and consumers have turned up with the necessary documents, authentication cannot proceed if the app or central server is inaccessible or responds slowly.This has meant that queues do not necessarily move in proportion to the number of staff attending to consumers. During prolonged server disruptions, the line can remain virtually static while more consumers continue to join it.The rush had intensified in the run-up to the Aug 16 deadline, with large numbers of consumers who had not completed their e-KYC turning up at dealerships. The extension to Aug 23 has given them additional time, but the technical bottlenecks mean the pressure has merely been spread over another week rather than eliminated.For LPG dealers, the challenge is to handle the accumulated rush while remaining dependent on systems over which they have little control. A server outage lasting several hours can disrupt an entire day’s schedule and push those waiting towards subsequent days.For consumers, particularly those who have already made one or more trips to their LPG distributor, the extended deadline offers limited comfort unless the digital systems remain functional consistently. “First half of the day was wasted in the queue without my job completed,” said Avik Dasgupta, a Behala consumer.With Aug 23 now the revised deadline, the coming week is likely to remain crucial for both consumers and distributors. Unless the server and app-related problems are resolved, dealers fear that queues could again swell as the new cut-off approaches, recreating the same last-minute pressure that prompted the extension in the first place.
