LPG Cylinder shortage across India: 6 important actions by Government. “No need to panic” Check out all details
vrushangshah93@gmail.com LPG Cylinders are in shortage due to the war between Iran and the United States. Hotel industries are facing a problem due to a shortage for 3 days in the cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and other parts of the country. Hotel industries have been facing this problem for the past few days.
They have been saying that supplies of LPG gas have become irregular, hence disturbing their business. It’s been seen that street food vendors, hotels and restaurants are temporarily cutting down on their menu list, few of them claiming to temporarily shut down the hotels and restaurants. This disruption is impacting badly on the hospitality sector.
In the Mumbai cities many restaurants are temporarily shutting their operation. In Kolkata more than 4000 restaurants and hotels are on the verge of closure. Few of the cities are claiming to provide only tea and coffee.
Qatar is one of the largest suppliers of liquefied natural gas. Due to the attacks on their gas fields by Iran the gas supply has been affected. Due to the attacks Qatar energy has stopped production of energy temporarily at few parts of their production facilities. Hence disturbing the supply of oil and gases to the other parts of the countries.
While in this disturbing situation the union government has prioritized the gas supply for households, hospitals and other important service industries, limiting the supply of LPG to commercial industries in some parts of the countries.
Government has taken a few important steps like extending the domestic cylinder booking period from 21 to 25 days. So that they can stabilize the requirement of gas supply and increase its production.
What is LPG:
LPG is a flammable hydrocarbon gas composed of butane and propane. It is used commonly for domestic cooking and industrial purposes. In India it is consumed by around 30 million tonnes annually. Amongst them around 85% of this is consumed by Indian households.
On the other hand, the remaining is being used by commercial businesses like hotels and restaurants. To meet all these demands the government depends heavily on imports to fulfil all the demands. But due to this war, it’s been disturbed and the government is cutting down and decreasing its supplies in commercial industries.
Impact of LPG Shortage:
· Shortage of LPG cylinder may cause problems in daily cooking as they have to wait longer for its refill once the cylinder gets finished. As the government has imposed a waiting period so they have to wait for it. They have to manage it by opting alternative cooking methods like inductions.
· It’s a challenging phase for restaurants and hotels as the government has reduced the supply of commercial LPG cylinders. This has affected many restaurants and hotels that rely on LPG cylinders. Many restaurants and hotels have temporarily shut down its operation or cut down their menu list.
· Shortage of supply of LPG cylinder leads to increased prices of LPG cylinder. The price of domestic cylinder was increased by Rs 60 and commercial LPG cylinder by Rs 114.5. The increased prices may lead to increase in food prices and cost of living.
Government actions:
As per the sources, the government assures people to not panic. Government authorities are working seriously on this matter and gives assurance to meet the oil and energy requirements. To maintain the supply properly the government is working actively and applying its sources and plans to import oil and gases from a larger number of countries.
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri have reached out to oil and gas supplier nations to meet the requirement as soon as possible. He also ensures adequate gas allocation for power plants as the summer peak demands.
As per Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal this crisis may worsen if the war continues. He said that the government has taken the right decisions by prioritizing domestic supply over commercial ones. He says that the current situation requires the need for better preparations to deal with the shortage of LPG supply.
As per the reports, M.K. Stalin has written to PM Narendra Modi to take urgent steps to get rid of the situation raised due to shortage of gas supply to commercial and industrial consumers in Tamil Nadu.
Other important actions taken by the Government:
· Government is prioritizing the supply of gas to domestic households over commercial and industrial uses to ensure families don’t get affected due to the LPG supply disruption. Supply of LPG to hotels and restaurants may be temporarily reduced.
· For preventing black marketing and stockpiling the government applied rule of minimum waiting period between LPG refills up to 25 days to ensure fair distribution amongst all the consumers
· The government can impose laws such as the Essential Commodities Act for controlling shortage, supply and its production.
· Government and authority ensure and takes legal actions against illegal stockpiling, black marketing or overpricing.
· Government imports additional LPG from other countries to overcome shortage of LPG supply.
· Government increasing the LPG production at the refineries to overcome the shortage of LPG supply.
Government urges people and says no need to panic and everything will be sorted it out soon.
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