Vijayawada, Apr 17 (PTI) The state coordinator of oil marketing companies in Andhra on Friday assured that there is no need to panic over availability of cooking gas and fuel as stocks of LPG, petrol and diesel are sufficient for three days and 15 days respectively.
Addressing a press conference in Vijayawada, N Bhaskara Reddy, who is also the general manager of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), said oil marketing companies (OMCs) have been consistently maintaining a three-day inventory of LPG for the last one month.
“For the last one month we have continuously maintained three days’ worth of LPG inventory. So far there is no problem regarding the availability of LPG. As for petrol and diesel, for the last one and a half month we have maintained 15 days’ worth of inventory. There is no shortage in the market,” Reddy said.
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While there were panic bookings for cooking gas in the early days of the West Asian conflict, with orders rising to four lakh, he said the frenzy has since eased to an average of two lakh bookings across the three OMCs – HPCL, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).
Following the start of the West Asian conflict, he said delivery times for cooking gas cylinders had deteriorated to 10 days, but have now improved to five or six days.
He added that the WTOs are striving to restore the pre-war normality of two or three days in a week.
Reddy said the three companies are meeting up to 70 per cent of commercial demand, including restaurants and other establishments, while supply to hospitals and educational institutions remains at 100 per cent.
Daily, he said, OMCs supply more than 7,600 commercial LPG cylinders of 19 kg capacity each.
Additionally, IOCL is supplying piped gas to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) for their needs in preparing the famous laddus and annaprasadam (free sweet food consecrated for devotees). Other temples also receive cooking gas as needed.
Likewise, migrant workers are being provided with five kilo cylinders, ensuring adequate availability, especially in high-demand areas.
“There is no problem with LPG. My request to customers is that there is no need to panic. The supply is normal. If there is any panic, the state government is also intervening,” he said.
Following the directives of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Central Government, in coordination with the state government, he said that where there is a delay, additional supply of LPG will be ensured.
Reddy highlighted that the state government is considering expanding the use of piped natural gas (PNG) to reduce dependence on LPG, which is largely imported. PTI STH SSK
This report is automatically generated from PTI news service. ThePrint assumes no responsibility for its content.
