The Centre on Friday asked all commercial LPG consumers in major urban cities to contact their local city gas distribution network provider or their designated dealer to obtain a piped natural gas (PNG) connection to avoid facing disruptions in LPG supplies.
Petroleum ministry official Sujata Sharma told a press conference that "supply of piped natural gas to domestic consumers and CNG is being ensured without any interruption or cuts. Given this situation, there is absolutely no need to panic."
She pointed out that the present crisis is being created due to panic bookings. "LPG bookings surged to 75.7 lakh daily against an average of 55.7 lakh daily before the Iran war", she said.
The ministry official said, "petrol and diesel are available in adequate quantities at all petrol pumps.. Regarding LPG, it remains a matter of concern. Despite this situation, no dry out has been reported at any of our 25,000 distributors."
She again appealed to people not to give credence to rumours and to refrain from enganging in panic buying".
On petrol and diesel, the official said, "India possesses a refining capacity of 258 million tonnes and we are self-sufficient in production of petrol and diesel. All our refineries are currently opertion at 100 per cent capacity or higher and the refineries hold adequate inventories of crude oil. Supply of piped natural gas to domestic consumers and CNG is being ensured without any interruptions or cuts. Hence there is absolutely no need to panic."
Nearly five million LPG cylinders are supplied daily across India. India imports 60 pc of its LPG requirements, out of which nearly 90 pc gas passes through Strait of Hormuz.
Panic booking, hoarding and blackmarketing are the main causes behind the current LPG crisis. Many hotels and restaurants have switched to 'bhatti' (coal and wood fired ovens) because of disruption in supplies of commercial LPG cylinders. Long queues for LPG cylinders have been noticed in most of the cities and towns.
The current rush for LPG cylinders is being caused by baseless rumours and the tendency to hoard. Many people have this tendency to hoard two or four cylinders to avoid facing crisis. On the other hand, unscrupulous people are busy making money by selling LPG cylinders in the grey market.
The problems being faced by canteens, restaurants and hotels are genuine. Their owners cannot afford a dent in their business. The government must explore ways to help them tide them over this crisis.
The committee of three ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah should find out means to tackle these problems on the ground level. Presently, nobody knows when the Iran war will end.
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