Govt. making every effort to ensure adequate LPG supply to households, says GoM

The Group of Ministers (GoM), comprising Payyavula Keshav (Finance), Kinjarapu Atchannaidu (Agriculture), and Nadendla Manohar (Civil Supplies), on Saturday said that people in Andhra Pradesh need not worry about the supply of LPG cylinders, as both the Central and State governments were taking coordinated measures to ensure uninterrupted availability of cooking gas.

The GoM, along with special teams of officials, was continuously monitoring the situation and reviewing the supply status to prevent any inconvenience to the public, the Ministers said.

Earlier, the Ministers held a review meeting at the Civil Supplies office with officials from the Civil Supplies, Information and Public Relations, Police, Vigilance and other coordinating departments, and representatives of the oil and gas companies such as Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

The discussions centred around the current LPG demand in the State, the supply situation, and the future course of action to ensure that consumers did not face difficulties.

The government decided to move forward with a strong action plan based on real-time data analysis to maintain steady supply.

The Ministers said there were temporary disruptions in LPG supply due to the ongoing war in the Gulf region, which had affected shipping and logistics. They said the Central government had initiated steps to restore and strengthen the supply systems, and alternative routes to ensure continuous availability were being explored. Refineries across the country had also been directed to increase LPG production by reducing the output of some other petroleum products, as this would raise gas production by about 10-20 %, they said.

Stating that the State government was making every effort to ensure that domestic LPG supply to households was not affected, they said priority was being accorded to essential institutions such as hospitals and hostels so that their operations continued without disruption.

Centre’s guidelines

The Centre had introduced guidelines stating that households in the urban areas could obtain a LPG cylinder once every 25 days, rural households once every 45 days, and households with double cylinders once every 32 days.

Warning against black marketing of LPG cylinders, they said public suggestions were also being invited to help deal with the situation.

Officials informed that around 95% of LPG bookings were currently being made online and about 88% of cylinder deliveries were being carried out through OTP-based verification, and that special control rooms had been set up at the Real Time Governance System (RTGS) centre and in the district Collector offices to closely monitor the situation.

Focus on PNG expansion

The government was also focusing on expanding the use of piped natural gas (PNG) as an alternative energy source, the Ministers informed.

Commissioner, Department of Civil Supplies, Saurabh Gaur, Director S. Nupur Ajay Kumar, Information and Public Relations Director K.S. Viswanathan, and senior officials and representatives of the oil companies participated in the meeting.