The government of Himachal Pradesh has constituted teams in all districts to curb black marketing and hoarding of LPG cylinders, even as officials clarified that there is no shortage of domestic gas supply in the state.
Chief Secretary Sanjay Gupta shared this information during a review meeting on the availability of petroleum products held with the Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. He said the district-level teams will take necessary action upon receiving complaints related to black marketing and hoarding.
Gupta asserted that there has been no disruption in the supply of domestic LPG cylinders in the state, and the distribution system is functioning normally. He added that instructions have been issued to initiate a booking system on the servers of Indian Oil Corporation Limited to streamline the process.
The Chief Secretary urged the public to book their LPG cylinders only once to prevent unnecessary load on the booking servers. He also informed that arrangements are being made to supply kerosene to households across the state, and two to three dealers will be appointed in each district for this purpose.
Gupta appealed to residents to report complaints related to black marketing or hoarding through the departmental toll-free numbers 1967 and 1100. He also said that the Government of India is expected to release 20 per cent of commercial LPG cylinders soon, based on previous consumption patterns.
Officials said adequate stocks of kerosene are available, and there is currently no shortage of either domestic or commercial LPG cylinders in the state.
Meanwhile, Nitin Pandey, Chief Manager of the Indane Bottling Plant at Raipur Sahora in Una district, said that around 15 to 20 truckloads of LPG cylinders are being dispatched daily to various parts of the state.
He added that rumours circulating on social media about a shortage of LPG are incorrect. However, some hotel operators, dhaba owners and sweet shop operators have reported difficulties in procuring commercial cylinders.
As per information, at the Indane Gas Plant said commercial cylinders are being supplied to distributors based on daily monitoring to ensure smooth distribution, while domestic LPG supply across Himachal Pradesh remains normal.
