The Hindu : We are not receiving loads on time, say LPG agents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 16, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

We are not receiving loads on time, say LPG agents

By N.Ravi Kumar

CHENNAI OCT. 15. Cooking gas supplies to many households in the city have come under strain.

Refill cylinders are supplied after almost a week from the date of the booking, several consumers complain. The reasons cited for this are many--from slippages in bulk LPG supplies to the bottling plants to the recent switchover to a new system in the transportation of the product from the oil installations to the cooking gas agencies.

"We are not receiving the loads on time", is the common complaint among many cooking gas distributors, who find themselves at the receiving end from those seeking the refills.

While Indane distributors, who command a consumer base of over 13-lakhs appear to be the most affected, their counterparts in the other two national companies say the situation is far from comfortable.

Coming at a time when the demand for cooking gas spirals, due to climatic changes, the disruption in the supplies is causing concern to both the users and the distributors.

"This is the time in a year, when our sales register substantial increase", an Indane distributor in Central Chennai says, listing the increased use of the product including for heating water.

Interestingly, a few of the national oil marketing companies had recently launched schemes under which cooking gas supplies are promised within a stipulated time-frame, 24-hours in most of the cases.

Even otherwise, many of the distributors are issuing refills almost across the counter and also work on holidays. "The present delay had led to an abnormal backlog in the refill supplies. It has crossed over 1,000 calls with some distributors', a distributor in South Chennai says.

The presumable slippage in the bulk LPG supplies from oil installations in Karnataka to the bottling plants located in the city suburbs of the national oil marketing companies is attributed to the factors hindering the smooth movement of road traffic between the States.

A senior official of the Indian Oil Corporation, however, refutes that there is any shortfall in the availability of the bulk product. He says, "The recent one-day bandh and the consecutive holidays from the beginning of this month has led to the situation".

The oil company, he adds, had already initiated measures to restore normality and there was no need for the consumers to panic. "We are taking extra efforts to clear the backlog including by functioning on holidays and the situation would improve soon". The estimated cooking gas requirement of the city, for Indane customers, is around 150 truckloads (each load comprising 300 cylinders).

Similarly, an official of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation says, "there is no backlog with our distributors, even while pointing out, "it would take a while before we move out of the present hand-to-mouth scenario".

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We are not receiving loads on time, say LPG agents