Centre making all efforts to provide LPG for commercial use

THe Centre is making every exertion through and through tell governments, to bring home the bacon scarce liquified petroleum gas (LPG) equitably to commercial customers such as community kitchens, dhabas, and migrant workers while maintaining supplies to domestic consumers, amid the ongoing war in West Asia, an official aware of the matter said on Monday.Updating on fuel availability, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the petroleum ministry, said that natural gas supply to domestic consumers and compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport is being met fully on priority.Industrial and commercial consumers connected with the gas grid are also getting 80% of the fuel they used to consume. India meets about 50% of its natural gas consumption through domestic output; it imports the rest from various geographies, including West Asia, America, Russia and Australia.The government has advised city gas distribution (CGD) entities to prioritise commercial connections and also wrote to states on this matter, discussing an additional 10% gas allocation for the expansion of piped natural gas (PNG), Sharma said. “As a result of these efforts in last three weeks, approximately 3.5 lakh domestic and commercial PNG connections have been either installed or activated,” she added.“Supply of LPG is still a matter of concern,” she said, adding that there is no dry out at any LPG distributorship. She further said there is a decline in panic booking of LPG, and delivery to consumers is normal. According to Sharma, bookings have substantially reduced from about 8.8 million on March 13 to around 5 million now.On the supply situation of commercial LPG, she said there is a proposal to give 10% additional LPG to state governments if they help in the expansion of the PNG network in their respective states. Initially, the government proposed to allocate 20% commercial LPG, then it made a 10% additional allocation.On March 21, the government issued another order, taking the total allocation to 50% of commercial LPG consumption to states. The latest allocation is made for LPG supply to restaurants, dhabas, hotels, industrial canteens, food processing, dairy units, state and local government-run subsidised canteens and outlets, community kitchens, and 5 kg free-trade LPG (FTL) for migrant labour, she said. “So far, about 15,800 tonnes of commercial LPG has been uplifted,” she added.Pilot launch of the 5 kg FTL cylinders was in 2013 by state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs). It was made available nationwide in 2014, and rebranded as “Chhotu” in 2020. It was aimed at meeting needs of specific segments such as migrant labour with no current address proof and young professionals, according to a statement issued by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on December 11, 2020.Union government is coordinating with states and union territories (UTs) to ensure supply as per envisaged priority and check diversions, black marketing and hoarding. States are responsible for monitoring supply under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) and the LPG Control Order. It directed all district collectors and Food and Civil Supplies (FC&S) officials to conduct regular enforcement actions daily.Enforcement actions included about 2,400 raids and the seizure of over 800 cylinders in the past 24 hours, Sharma said. “Major actions have been reported in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, including seizures, FIRs and arrests,” she said. State-run OMCs conducted over 2,600 surprise inspections at retail outlets and LPG distributorships, across the country over the weekend, she said. So far, around 550 FIRs have been registered and about 150 people arrested, she added.