Restricting Domestic Gas Cylinders Can Enable Andhra To Manage Fortnight: Distributor Assn

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh LPG Distributors Association on Thursday said that restricting domestic cooking gas for household use can enable the state to tide over a fortnight without shortage.

The association president K Srinatha Reddy appealed to domestic consumers to use cooking gas for their own household use and refrain from selling it to hotels, especially at a time when the US- Israel and Iran war has disrupted fuel supplies globally.

"We distributors appeal only one thing, (domestic) users should use their own cylinders, they should not sell it to others. If we can do this, we can have two to three weeks of stocks for domestic (use and) we can sustain for one month without an issue," Reddy told PTI.

Enticed by money, he said some domestic consumers are selling gas cylinders at up to Rs 2,000 per unit. He appealed to people to cooperate with the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and the government.

According to Reddy, on normal days up to 2.6 lakh gas cylinders are booked per day. Alarmed by the war disruptions, he said bookings crossed three lakh for two days on Monday and Tuesday but they reduced on Wednesday as bookings could not happen properly.

Following raids in Adoni and Mantralayam by authorities, Reddy said 170 domestic cylinders were seized from hotels. Observing that OMCs ceased delivering gas without Delivery Authentication Code (DAC), he said some issues with software have also impeded gas bookings.

On Wednesday, Reddy said he received calls from at least 200 people from across the state over supply of gas cylinders.

He said commercial gas cylinder deliveries, which number about five lakh per day, have been barred for two days already and called on the government to take steps to stock gas supplies needed for at least six months.

Reddy, who represents 1,250 gas distributors, said that on normal days, up to 80 lakh cylinders are delivered across the state but noted that there was no fall in this number for now, though pressure and monitoring has intensified.

However, the gas distributor noted that a ban on commercial gas cylinders has started affecting hostels, especially at a time when board exams for 10th standard and 12th standard students are ongoing.

Observing that government hostels are exempting from domestic gas deliveries, Reddy said private hostels are the most affected and added that hotels are really struggling with fuel shortage.

Larger hotels which save gas stocks for a few days may manage temporarily for four to five days but not any further, he added.

Though firewood can be used to some extent for dishes likes idli, steamed rice and biryani, Reddy noted that it cannot be put to use for other delicacies as stench could envelope food.

On Wednesday night, a biryani hotel owner at Singh Nagar in Vijayawada said he had bought two commercial gas cylinders at an inflated cost of Rs 2,400 per unit, about Rs 1,100 more than the regular price.

Further, he said there no was guarantee for gas supplies today.

However, on Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said there was no shortage of LPG cylinders in the state and instructed officials to coordinate with the Centre to ensure uninterrupted supply.

According to an official press release on Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh has over 1.6 crore domestic LPG connections and nearly 10 lakh commercial connections.

The daily LPG demand in the state is around 4,000 tonnes and currently about 21,500 tonnes of gas stocks are available, the press release added.