Amid circulating reports indicating changes in LPG refill booking rules, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Wednesday clarified that no such changes have been made and the existing norms will continue as before.
The ministry also urged consumers to avoid panic booking and said there was sufficient stock of LPG available to meet the demand.
“The government has learned that some news reports and social media posts are demanding revised timelines for LPG refill booking – 45 days for PMUY connections, 25 days for non-PMUY single-bottle connections, and 35 days for non-PMUY double-bottle connections,” the March 25 press release said.
Read also | Fuel stocks are sufficient nationwide; Priority for supplying liquefied petroleum gas: Centre
The current refill booking timelines remain unchanged:
- 25 days in urban areas
- 45 days in rural areas, regardless of connection type
The Ministry confirmed that LPG stocks are available throughout the country, and there is no reason for concern.
Efforts to supply commercial LPG
The Center is making every effort, through state governments, to equitably supply scarce LPG to commercial customers such as community kitchens, dhaba and migrant workers while maintaining supplies to local consumers, amid the ongoing war in West Asia, an official familiar with the matter said on Monday, HT reported earlier.
Read also | A man was held in Gurugram on charges of illegal refilling of LPG, and 35 cylinders were seized
In an update on fuel availability, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary, Petroleum Ministry, said supplies of natural gas for domestic consumers and CNG for transportation are being fully met on priority.
Industrial and commercial consumers connected to the gas network also receive 80% of the fuel they used to consume. India meets about 50% of its natural gas consumption through domestic output. The rest is imported from different geographical regions, including West Asia, America, Russia and Australia.
Sharma said the government has advised city gas distribution (CGD) entities to give priority to commercial connections and has also written to states on the matter and discussed allocating 10% additional gas for pipelined natural gas (PNG) expansion. “As a result of these efforts in the past three weeks, approximately 3.5 thousand domestic and business connections have been installed or activated in PNG,” she added.
On the status of commercial LPG supplies, she said there was a proposal to give an additional 10% LPG to state governments if they helped expand PNG’s network in their states. Initially, the government proposed an allocation of 20% of commercial LPG, and then allocated an additional 10%.
