CHENNAI: Mobile booking of LPG cylinders across the State has been hit since Saturday due to a technical glitch. With the booking for refill through the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) not getting confirmed, many consumers are puzzled and making a beeline at LPG agencies only to be told the server is down.
The Indian Oil Corporation said in a statement that the LPG booking and delivery system, managed by IBM India, has experienced an outage for the last two days and currently the system is under recovery.
An employee of Vatsala LPG agency in Chennai said the cylinders could not be booked either through call or WhatsApp since Saturday. The agency is taking down the requests manually. Distributors in Coimbatore, however, said no issue in booking has been reported in the district yet.
The glitch has also affected the deliveries, as they are now happening without invoice. A delivery person in Chennai said the invoice or any data pertaining to the cylinder could not be accessed. “The cylinder is being provided only to the known consumers,” he added. Meanwhile, a statement from Indane said, “Customers can continue to book through SMS or IVRS number 77189 55555.
While the dealers TNIE spoke to said it would take a couple of days to restore the system, many of the consumers still don’t know about the glitch. Bharti, a homemaker, who had booked for a cylinder, said: “I don’t know why this is happening.”