The Crossbill News Desk
Amid growing anxiety over cooking gas availability, a man reportedly died after collapsing while standing in a queue to purchase a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder in Punjab on Friday, March 13.
The incident took place in Sehna village where residents had gathered early in the morning outside an LPG distribution outlet.
According to a report by The Times of India, Bhushan Kumar had joined the queue outside an LPG distribution outlet at around 5 am and collapsed at around 7.50am while standing in queue. Locals said the crowd had been waiting for hours amid fears of supply disruptions.
The incident comes at a time when concerns over LPG availability have intensified across the country following disruptions in global energy supply linked to the ongoing war in West Asia.
Despite Union oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri stating in parliament a day earlier that there is no shortage of LPG in the country, apprehensions among consumers persist, with some bureaucrats also acknowledging pressure on supplies.
Adding to the concern, the government has extended the LPG booking cycle for rural households to 45 days. Under the revised system, consumers will be able to book a new cylinder only 45 days after booking one, compared to the earlier 25-day cycle.
The government has also permitted restaurants and hotels to temporarily switch to alternative fuels such as kerosene, biomass, coal and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) pellets as a contingency measure.
Financial Express has quoted Sujata Sharma, joint secretary (marketing) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, as noting that this is an unprecedented situation.
“The country has never seen such situation in past. Domestic supplies have been affected after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” she said.
The Strait of Hormuz is a key global energy shipping route and India has so far not been able to negotiate an exemption from Iran.
Referring to the LPG shortages reported across the country, minister Puri had said in parliament that domestic supply is protected while “panic booking and hoarding at the distributor and retail level driven by consumer anxiety rather than any supply shortage.”
Government officials told Express that daily LPG bookings have increased to around 8 million cylinders, up from the usual 6 million. However, deliveries currently remain at about 5.5 million cylinders a day.
The incident took place in Sehna village where residents had gathered early in the morning outside an LPG distribution outlet.
According to a report by The Times of India, Bhushan Kumar had joined the queue outside an LPG distribution outlet at around 5 am and collapsed at around 7.50am while standing in queue. Locals said the crowd had been waiting for hours amid fears of supply disruptions.
The incident comes at a time when concerns over LPG availability have intensified across the country following disruptions in global energy supply linked to the ongoing war in West Asia.
Despite Union oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri stating in parliament a day earlier that there is no shortage of LPG in the country, apprehensions among consumers persist, with some bureaucrats also acknowledging pressure on supplies.
Adding to the concern, the government has extended the LPG booking cycle for rural households to 45 days. Under the revised system, consumers will be able to book a new cylinder only 45 days after booking one, compared to the earlier 25-day cycle.
The government has also permitted restaurants and hotels to temporarily switch to alternative fuels such as kerosene, biomass, coal and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) pellets as a contingency measure.
Financial Express has quoted Sujata Sharma, joint secretary (marketing) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, as noting that this is an unprecedented situation.
“The country has never seen such situation in past. Domestic supplies have been affected after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” she said.
The Strait of Hormuz is a key global energy shipping route and India has so far not been able to negotiate an exemption from Iran.
Referring to the LPG shortages reported across the country, minister Puri had said in parliament that domestic supply is protected while “panic booking and hoarding at the distributor and retail level driven by consumer anxiety rather than any supply shortage.”
Government officials told Express that daily LPG bookings have increased to around 8 million cylinders, up from the usual 6 million. However, deliveries currently remain at about 5.5 million cylinders a day.
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