more-in A son, frustrated by the tardiness of government machinery in his home town Mangaluru, took to social media to resolve the problem. All it took was a tweet to Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and within a day, the deed was done. It was to celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi that Mohandas Kamath, an employee of an oil exploring company in Kuwait, and his wife, Laxmi, visited his 87-year-old father Padmanabh Kamath in Mangaluru. Ms. Laxmi noticed that the cylinder supplied in July was very light. When they weighed it, they found it to be empty. The gas agency was immediately contacted, but it blamed the family, claiming that as the cylinder had not been used, the gas had leaked. “How could the gas leak when its seal was intact? We contacted them multiple times, even reaching out to the gas agency owner, who failed to respond,” Mr. Kamath told The Hindu over phone from Kuwait on Saturday. Earlier this week, when they returned to Kuwait, the issue still wasn’t resolved. Worried that his father could no longer cook a meal, on September 21, Mr. Kamath decided to take to social media. He tweeted Mr. Pradhan: “HPCL Urwa Store Mangalore Agent supplied empty LPG gas cylinder. No action taken even after complaint. Day light robbery.” The Twitter handle, MoPNGeSeva, a dedicated social media-based grievance redressal platform, asked for consumer number and agency details. On September 22, the agency owner himself came to the flat and replaced the empty cylinder, said a relieved Mr. Kamath. With recurring complaints related to gas supply in the city, Mr. Kamath’s case has provided hope to many. “I have received many calls thanking me for making them aware of this effective grievance redressal mechanism,” he said.

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