LPG stock at Sekmai almost nil
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 29 2020: Except for a very limited volume meant for emergency pur-poses, LPG stock at the Sekmai bottling plant has plunged to almost nil.

According to information received from IOCL's Imphal Divisional Retail Sales Office, there is two days' stock of LPG at the Sekmai bottling plant.

Nonetheless, necessary measures have been initiated to load LPG carriers of Manipur on priority basis at the loading points of Assam so as to improve the stock position as fast as possible, informed a source.

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that LPG would be provided to the country's poor free of cost for three months from April to June in the wake of the country-wide lockdown.

The total number of LPG consumers in the State is 5.60 lakh and these include 1,56,443 PMUY beneficiaries.

The existing stock of LPG at the Sekmai bottling plant would last just two days if all the 5.6 lakh consumers are given one refill each, said the source.

If the existing stock is distributed among PMUY beneficiaries only, it would last around four days.

As such, the plan to provide LPG free of cost to the 1,56,443 PMUY beneficiaries of the State for three months sounds quite implausible.

If the same plan must be executed successfully without courting any controversy, it is crucial to ship in abundant quantity of LPG without undue delay, said the source.

Most LPG distributors were not distributing LPG regularly during the past one month.

This coupled with the complete lockdown imposed by the Government to combat COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in shortage of LPG among a large number of families in the State.

At some places, an LPG refill of 14.2 Kgs is sold between Rs 1800 to Rs 2000 in black markets.

Given this scenario, IOCL and the State Government need to have a thorough discussion and take up all necessary measures before free distribution of LPG to PMUY beneficiaries starts.

Otherwise, serious disputes and confrontations may break out between general LPG consumers and PMUY consumers next month.

When the PMUY was launched, many MLAs, Ministers and so called social workers gave LPG connection to people residing at far flung and remote areas.

As such, it is crucial to ascertain whether all the people given LPG connection under PMUY have been taking refills regularly or not.

As per rules, if a consumer has not been buying any refill for 120 days, his or her LPG connection should be blocked, said the source.

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