The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Wednesday appealed to the people not to rush in booking LPG cylinders. He said that despite the news of panic booking, normal delivery is going on. As a temporary demand management measure, the minimum gap between bookings has been increased from 21 days to 25 days. Speaking at a press conference, Sujata Sharma said misinformation led to panic booking and hoarding, and the average domestic LPG delivery cycle is about two and a half days.
To prevent diversion at the distributor level, Delivery Authentication Code (DAC) system has been implemented. Sharma said the government has taken on a large part of the cost increase, making LPG prices in India lower than many neighboring countries, and appealed to people to cooperate with the authorities.
being reviewed
Domestic LPG production has increased by 25 percent, and the entire output is being supplied to domestic consumers. For non-domestic use, priority is being given to essential sectors like hospitals and educational institutions. A three-member committee of executive directors of IOCL, HPCL and BPCL has been formed to review the allocation for restaurants, hotels and other commercial users. The committee is consulting state authorities and industry bodies to ensure fair and transparent distribution.
Rs 30,000 crore approved
To protect consumers, the government itself has borne a large part of the cost increase. The current price of a domestic LPG cylinder in Delhi is Rs 913. For a typical PMUY family, the recent increase of Rs 60 means less than 80 paise per day. Despite a 41 per cent increase in Saudi contract prices from July 2023, PMUY cylinder prices have fallen by 32 per cent due to government support. A compensation package of Rs 30,000 crore has been approved for oil marketing companies to cover under-recovery. LPG prices in India remain lower than many neighboring countries.