BHUBANESWAR : The government on Monday assured consumers that there is adequate stock of cooking gas in the state and urged people not to resort to panic buying.
Official sources said the state has around 17,000 tonnes of LPG in reserve, which is sufficient to meet the daily demand of approximately 2,100 tonnes or 1.5 lakh cylinders, including domestic and commercial.
“The situation is under control and supplies are being managed as per requirement. The current reserve of LPG can take care of 10 days requirement of the state, which is quite normal,” said a senior official of the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department.
To ease pressure on commercial users, the Centre has also relaxed restrictions on sale of commercial LPG, raising allocations to 50 per cent of pre-crisis levels with effect from Monday. The move comes in response to supply disruptions linked to geopolitical tensions in West Asia and is expected to benefit restaurants, hotels, dhabas, industrial canteens, dairies, food processing units, and community kitchens.
Sources said that the Centre has asked the state to comply with certain conditions after which the additional 10 per cent supply will be restored.
At present, commercial LPG supply is operating at around 20 per cent of demand but the central government has approved an additional 20 per cent allocation, which will gradually improve availability for the hospitality sector. Despite the constraints, essential services such as hospitals, police and defence establishments, jails, schools and anganwadi centres continue to receive uninterrupted LPG supply, the sources said.
Former president of Odisha LPG Distributors’ Association, SB Mohapatra said there is no shortage for domestic consumers, although refill delivery timelines have stretched from the usual 48 hours to 4-5 days due to the ongoing crisis.
Even as Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra claimed that the department has stepped up enforcement activities to curb black marketing, there are instances of illegal diversion from rural areas, where some beneficiaries under the PM-Ujjwala scheme are allegedly routing subsidised cylinders to urban markets through middlemen at inflated prices, he said.
A 14.2 kg cylinder is selling at more than Rs 3,000 in the grey market, sources said.