Date:14/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/14/stories/2009011458520100.htm

Front Page

Backlog of cooking gas refills high

N. Ravi Kumar

Time taken by distributors is as high as 15 days
Situation worse in suburbs, smaller cities

CHENNAI: Thousands of families across the State, including hundreds in Chennai, will run out of cooking gas in the next few days as the backlog of refills to be cleared remains high with the distributors of two major oil marketing companies.

The time taken by many distributors of Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd in Chennai, in addition to the mandatory 21-day gap between two refill supplies to a household, is as high as 15 days.

The situation is worse in the suburban areas and smaller cities, say officials.

Pile-up due to protests

The huge pile-up is attributed to the two agitations, one after another, by bulk LPG transporters and officers of the two companies recently that affected production at the bottling plants of the companies across the State.

Sources in the oil industry said it would require at least a fortnight for the backlog to be cleared. The delivery staff and the crew of the lorries that transport cylinders from the bottling plants to the distributors go on leave for at least three days for the Pongal festival.

However, there is lesser number of refill bookings following an announcement a few days ago by Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas about an imminent reduction in LPG, petrol and diesel prices.

“Some customers merely enquire with us on the number of days taken now for a refill supply to be made,” an Indane distributor said, adding households not in immediate need of a cylinder seem to be adopting a wait-and-watch attitude.