Pressure piles on LPG distributors
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 15 2024: With consumers' complaint against denial of access to LPG refills growing every single day, LPG distributors have come under immense pressure and they are mulling about staging a protest demonstration on the same issue.

Some LPG distributors informed The Sangai Express that the Sekmai LPG bottling plant has been releasing just 10 to 15 truck loads of LPG refills in a month.

Earlier, the bottling plant used to supply 40 to 45 truck loads of LPG refills to each distributor in a month.

As a result of this drastic decline in the volume of LPG supply from the Sekmai bottling plant, the distributors are unable to meet the consumers' demand for LPG.

Pressure piles on LPG distributors

LPG refills for Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and most hill areas are not supplied from the Sekmai bottling plant.

LPG supply for these hill areas come from bottling plants located outside the State and these areas are not facing any shortage of LPG, said the distributors.

It is only the valley districts and a few pockets of the hill districts which are facing acute shortage of LPG at present, they said.

The shortage is so acute that the vast majority of the families have been forced to explore alternative fuels in place of LPG for cooking food.

"Apart from making scathing verbal attacks against LPG distributors on social media, some consumers are so frustrated and desperate that they have even demonstrated tendency to physically assault our office staff", they said.

Rather than taking their complaints and grievances to the Government and IOCL, many LPG consumers have been blaming/targeting distributors, they added.

At present, an LPG distributor which has around 35,000 consumers is supplied with just 150 to 200 refills in a day and even this pathetically meagre supply is not released every day.

Strangely, LPG distributors having just around 2000 consumers are also given the same number of refills, according to the distributors.

There are around 42 LPG distributors in the valley districts.

Together with other distributors operating in some hill areas, Sekmai bottling plant has been supplying LPG refills to around 75 distributors.

Whereas some distributors have just around 2000 consumers, others have as many as 35,000 consumers.

But the IOCL has been releasing the same number of refills to all these distributors.

Incidentally, the price of LPG refill (14.2 Kg) has reached Rs 2500 in black market.

The Government needs to crack down on these black marketers, identify the source of their LPG refills and take up befitting action against the defaulting distributors, they said.

At the same time, the State Government must take up all necessary measures so as to ensure adequate supply of LPG to the public, the LPG distributors said.

So far, distribution of LPG refills has run into a backlog of three months and there is no sign of the situation improving any time soon.

With gun fight and casualties reported from Jiribam today too, one cannot say for how long transportation of bulk LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) would be suspended again, they added.