LPG crunch hits the city

With December being the festive season, Hyderabadis are working overtime in their kitchen. But if anyone, unfortunately, runs out of cooking gas, they can bid goodbye to their party plans. The city’s gas companies, riddled by inefficiency and a lax attitude, are making life miserable for helpless consumers, some of whom have had to survive for as long as a month without a refilled cylinder. Phones are either left unanswered or the standard response, “stock nahi hain...” is doled out, leaving customers miffed.
Desperate, some Hyderabadis are forced to purchase gas cylinders from the black market at an inflated price. Manjullika, a resident of A.C. Guards, says, “My cylinder was empty and I called the gas agency to book another one. They told me I can make a new booking only 21 days after the last delivery. I waited before booking again, but they took an additional 10 days to deliver the cylinder. It’s the same story every time. Now I’m forced to buy a cylinder from the black market at a higher price.”
Rubina Nazeer, a resident of Alwal and an HP Gas consumer, says, “I booked a gas cylinder 21 days after the previous delivery as per the company’s rules. However, it took another 15 days for the cylinder to arrive. we usually end up waiting for more than 45 days to get a new cylinder.”
Gas company officials however, pass the buck onto politicians and blame the poor service on the Telangana-Andhra tussle. P. Madhu, customer service officer, HP Gas, says, “We had a backlog because of the bandh, which has finally been cleared. However, if there was backlog before the furore, it must be because of the lack of sufficient infrastructure at the gas distributors’ end. Some do not have sufficient autos to deliver gas cylinders. clear instructions are being given to distributors to clear all backlogs.”