Cap on LPG : Government's dole sounds like a poor joke
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 24 2012: The decision of the State Cabinet to dole out three more cylinders to the six cylinder cap put on consumption of cooking gas seems set to ring hollow, if the availability of LPG to the people is an indicator.

As per the decision of the Cabinet, from the beginning of the next financial year each consumer will be provided nine subsidised LPG cylinders per year.

According to a source, LPG consumers of the State are not getting even five subsidised LPG cylinders in a year.

The consumers can hardly get four to five subsidised LPG cylinders in a year.

If at all the Cabinet decision on providing nine subsidised LPG filled cylinders to each consumer in a year is to be achieved, all genuine LPG consumers of the State are to get five filled cylinders each during the period from September 14 to March 31, 2013 .

A serpentine queue outside a gas agency at Kangpokpi

Given the frequent bandhs, strikes and blockades in the State, LPG carriers could not ship in sufficient LPG cylinders throughout the year.

This is one reason why LPG consumers could not get enough supply, the source pointed out.

Besides, LPG distributors under IOC in the State have to bear another headache as Ministers, MLAs and other powerful individuals have more often than not interfered in the distribution of the LPG cylinders.

On umpteenth occasions, Ministers, MLAs and other powerful officials and individuals have demanded several filled LPG cylinders using their letter-heads.

In fulfilling such demands, the needs of the common consumers are often sidelined, the source said.

Issuing filled cylinders to people without genuine consumer card is against the instruction of the IOC which forbids distribution of LPG cylinders to non-card holders.

Even then, left with no options, the distributors have to give in to fulfill the demands.

It has not only caused a headache for the distributors, but also it is often seen as an opportunity to sell the cylinders in the black market at higher price by the distributors.

As the distributors are mandated to submit the names of consumers and the amount of LPG caps issued to them to an IOC Server located in Mumbai, they have are forced to inflate the number of card holders.