In continuation of the government’s enforcement actions across the country to curb hoarding and black marketing of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), 5,000 raids were conducted across the country during the last three days, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) said on Thursday.
According to MoPNG, the surprise inspections were carried out by the public sector oil marketing company officials at more than 3,100 retail outlets and LPG distributorships. Penalties on 463 LPG distributorships and 81 LPG distributorships have been suspended till Wednesday, it added.
Informing about the domestic LPG supply status, the ministry said that online LPG cylinder bookings increased to about 99 percent on an industry basis on Wednesday. Delivery Authentication Code (DAC) based deliveries have increased to about 96 percent to prevent diversion. During the last three days, about 1.34 crore LPG cylinders were delivered against bookings of around 1.32 crore LPG cylinders, adding that about 47.51 lakh LPG cylinders were delivered against bookings of around 45.36 lakh LPG cylinders on Wednesday.
Giving details about commercial LPG supply and allocation measures, MoPNG said that total commercial LPG allocation has been increased to about 70 percent of pre-crisis levels, including 10 percent reform-linked allocation. During the last three days, about 1.87 lakh of 5 Kg FTL cylinders were sold. Since April 3, the public sector oil marketing companies have organised more than 14,500 awareness camps for 5 Kg FTL cylinders, wherein more than 2.34 lakh 5 Kg FTL cylinders were also sold. Moreover, around 4,919 of 5kg FTL cylinders were sold through about 348 camps on Wednesday. The development signals the government’s sustained efforts to prevent leakage and the uninterrupted supply of LPG gas amid the West Asia crisis.
