Maharashtra Government Steps Up LPG Vigilance Amid Supply Concerns
The drive, aimed at curbing black marketing and ensuring equitable distribution of LPG, has led to substantial seizures and legal action against offenders: Reports
MUMBAI: In a major crackdown on the illegal trade of domestic cooking gas, the Food and Civil Supplies Department has intensified enforcement actions, conducting over 17,000 raids across the State.
The drive, aimed at curbing black marketing and ensuring equitable distribution of LPG, has led to substantial seizures and legal action against offenders. Officials said 4,208 LPG cylinders and 76,854.54 kg of gas were seized during the operations. The department has also registered 61 FIRs and arrested 48 individuals involved in illegal activities such as hoarding, diversion and unauthorised commercial use of domestic LPG. In addition, two gas tankers were seized.
A senior official said several measures had been initiated to curb black marketing of domestic gas. “All District Collectors have been instructed to constitute vigilance and mobile teams at the district level and carry out inspections and raids. Action is being taken against those indulging in illegal use of domestic gas, hoarding and black marketing under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955,” he said.
The official added that the total value of seized assets — including gas stock and transport vehicles — in 17,059 raids is estimated at Rs 2,85,41,775, underscoring the scale of the malpractice.
The crackdown is part of a broader effort to safeguard essential commodities and maintain supply chains, particularly amid concerns over fuel availability due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East affecting global supplies.
The Maharashtra government, in coordination with oil marketing companies, is working to ensure uninterrupted supply of LPG, petrol and diesel across the State. Maharashtra has 23 bottling plants — IOC (4), BPC (9) and HPC (10) — serving 2,229 distributors and catering to around 3.5 crore consumers.
At present, the State has an LPG stock of approximately 32,000 metric tonnes. About 60% of commercial LPG supply is being met compared to the pre-war situation. However, priority sectors such as hospitals, educational institutions, crematoriums and social care are receiving 100 per cent supply.
To strengthen Piped Natural Gas (PNG) availability, the State has facilitated around 1.2 lakh new PNG connections, with another one lakh connections set to be activated soon, the official said.
Maharashtra currently leads the country with around 43 lakh PNG connections, accounting for nearly 25 per cent of India’s total.
