Relief in supply of LPG; Centre makes new change, says Union Minister Suresh Gopi

NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State for Petroleum Suresh Gopi has informed that the central government has changed the interval for booking LPG refills. He said that all domestic LPG consumers, irrespective of whether they live in urban or rural areas, can now book a refill once every 25 days. The minister informed this via social media.

‘Considering the pressure on LPG supplies in the wake of the Middle East conflict, the refill booking interval had been set at 25 days in urban areas and 45 days in rural areas. However, as the present LPG supply situation has improved and the refill backlog has declined significantly, the central government has relaxed this restriction. From now on, all domestic LPG consumers, without any distinction between urban and rural areas, can book a refill at an interval of 25 days,’ the statement said.

Against the backdrop of the war situation in West Asia, the LPG shortage in India had worsened. Consumers had to wait for months in some cases to receive cylinders. With supplies disrupted, hotels and other establishments were forced to return to firewood-based cooking. Meanwhile, a report had also emerged recently that LPG consumption in India had fallen sharply.

The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum stated that India’s LPG consumption had declined by 16 percent. During the April–August period of the previous financial year, India’s LPG consumption stood at 13.4 million tonnes, while it fell to 11.3 million tonnes during the same period this year. Officials said the decline was due to the disruption in LPG supplies, which prompted a stronger shift towards the use of piped natural gas.