Kerala seeks easing of curbs on commercial LPG supply amid shortage

In view of the cooking gas shortage caused by the conflict in West Asia, the Kerala government on Saturday said it has asked the public sector oil companies to provide necessary relaxations in the restrictions on supply of LPG cylinders for commercial purposes.

The request in this regard was also forwarded to Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri by state Civil Supplies Minister G R Anil, a government statement said.

It said that the oil companies -- IOCL, BPCL and HPCL -- have informed that they will favourably consider the government's request to distribute cylinders for commercial purposes by giving preference to the priority sectors of old age homes, hospitals, orphanages, schools, public or 'subhiksha' hotels, school and college hostels, hotels adjacent to hostels, guest houses and canteens in government and public sector office campuses.

 

A list of the priority areas and institutions for this purpose will be approved by the Department of Public Distribution and forwarded to the oil companies, the statement said.

A war room has been set up in the Civil Supplies Commissionerate to coordinate the efforts with the oil companies for addressing the crisis, it said.

The war room was set up following meetings of top government officials with the representatives of the oil companies under the chairmanship of Anil on March 9 and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on March 12, the statement said.

It further said that the oil companies have been asked to immediately submit the database of non-domestic consumers to the Department of Public Distribution and to analyse the data and prepare a list of non-domestic consumers falling under the essential categories with the support of the war room and the IT Mission team.

It has also been decided that the oil companies should take necessary steps to provide the information about the stock, arrival, distribution and balance of the public sector gas agencies to the district administration and the Public Distribution Department every day before 11 am, the statement said.

The IT Mission has been tasked to prepare a dashboard system for this and until it is ready, the oil companies will provide the information in a Google Sheet provided by the Public Distribution Department, it said.

In addition, the oil companies will provide information regarding the daily production and balance of the bottling plant to the State Civil Supplies Commissioner's office in a manner that can be monitored daily, it added.

The information regarding the stock position and distribution of private gas agencies will be collected and analysed every day by the Taluk Supply Officers, the statement said.

The government has also strictly instructed that no more than a maximum of five cylinders should be stored in addition to the cylinders already in use for commercial purposes, it said.

If it is found that domestic cooking gas cylinders are being illegally transported to hotels and used, the Civil Supplies Department has been tasked to seize them, register a case and take necessary legal action under the LPG Control Order based on the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, the statement said.

It said inspections were conducted in 84 gas agencies and 252 hotels in the state, following which 57 illegally distributed LPG cylinders were seized in Kottayam district and seven in Thiruvananthapuram.

The government has directed formation of squads to conduct strict inspections, including on holidays, to identify the possibility of black marketing and hoarding, the statement said.