Supply snag saps LPG cap hike
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 09 2014: Although the Government of India has hiked the cap on subsidized domestic LPG cylinder to 12 for a year, metropolitan cities stand to get maximum benefits from the same initiative but Manipur and other Northeastern States are unlikely to get any worthwhile benefit.

An official source in the Indian Oil Corporation said Manipur and other Northeastern States do not receive regular supply of LPG.

This is not the case in metropolitan cities.

As such, the big cities would gain maximum benefit out of the Government of India's recent decision to provide 12 subsidized LPG refills to each household in a year.

Even at the time when the annual subsidized LPG cap was 9, there was a backlog of 20 to 30 days in a year in the entire Northeastern region.

Presently, Manipur is running into a backlog of 30 days.

Primary reasons for the backlog are hilly terrain of the region, sub-standard transport infrastructure and frequent bandhs/blockades.

Another major factor is the problem generally encountered in importing LPG from other countries during the months of November and December.

Supply rate to the North East region during this problematic period is slashed to half the normal volume.

Per capita LPG consumption for the country excluding North East region is 7.5 Kg per month.

The corresponding figure for Manipur is 6 Kgs.

Giving the existing scenario of LPG supply, only 8 to 9 subsidized LPG refills can be provided to consumers before the year ends notwithstanding all the efforts to provide 12 LPG refills in a year.

Sekmai LPG bottling plant supplies LPG to different distributors based on the number of consumers registered with them.

There is no harm for distributors to give specific period of booking for distributing LPG refills to consumers but at the same time there is no need for specifying a validity date.

The most desirable and correct system is giving booking dates along with booking serial numbers.

One factor for specifyin a validity date is absence of home delivery facility in most of the LPG distributors.

Nonetheless, the question of specifying validity date is irrevelant.

After a consumer has taken a subsidized LPG refill, he/she should be allowed to book for the next refill as soon as possible.

Although a few of the distributors abide by the rules and guidelines, majority of the distributors are unable to fully comply with the established rules.

Again, the rate of supply is the primary factor for the shortfalls on the part of distributors, said the official source.

Notably, annual subsidized LPG cap was raised from 9 to 12 in accordance to a decision adopted by the Government of India on January 30 last.

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