LPG crisis worsens as shortage fear triggers panic buying in Ludhiana
Demand rises by 30%, teams formed to check hoarding, no need to panic, says DC
Even as the government and Ludhiana district administration claim that there is neither any shortage of LPG cylinders nor any reason to panic, residents and restaurant owners say the situation is entirely different on the ground. They maintain that panic persists as several gas agencies are not accepting bookings from domestic consumers while some restaurant owners are even planning to shift to cooking on wood-fired tandoors.
Appealing to both domestic and commercial LPG consumers, Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain reiterated that there was no need for panic.
“It is nothing but panic buying. Since everyone started booking cylinders online at the same time, the systems crashed. The demand of LPG cylinders as increased by 30 per cent. We have issued strict instructions to gas agencies to accept bookings over the phone if the online system is not functioning. Besides, several teams have been constituted to visit different areas to ensure that there is no black marketing or hoarding of LPG cylinders,” he said.
Meanwhile, some restaurant owners admitted that the uncertainty had prompted them to consider alternatives such as traditional tandoors.
Vishal Malhotra from Reboot, an eatery, said preparing gravies, curries and sauces takes considerable time and consumes more gas. “At least we should start using gas cylinders judiciously,” he said.
In a related development, the Mid-Day Meal Society has written to District Education Officers (DEOs) across the state, seeking details of schools where mid-day meals are prepared and the number of LPG cylinders required for cooking. Though meals in many schools are still prepared on wood, several institutions also rely on LPG.
Sonu, a homemaker, said she was worried as the gas agency was unable to book her LPG cylinder. “As a commoner, we are in a panic situation. We hope the situation improves soon. Earlier, we were allowed to book a cylinder after a gap of 20 days but now we are facing inconvenience in getting the supply, which is causing anxiety,” she said.
At the same time, several homemakers have started switching to induction cooktops to reduce LPG consumption.
A gas agency operator in the city said there were thousands of consumers who possessed multiple LPG connections — either in the same name at different addresses or in different names at same addresses, and the government had little control over them.
“They, along with some delivery persons, have started black marketing of domestic cylinders, where we cannot help,” he said.
He said if there were 100 genuine consumers, the number of connections could go up to 150–180.
Another gas dealer from Khanna, Ravjot Singh, said the gas supply had certainly been affected as most petroleum products were imported. “In coming days, we believe the crisis will ease as the government is taking every possible step to control the situation,” he said.
Gas dealers claim that the existence of multiple LPG connections in the same name or address has encouraged black marketing.
According to them, the number of cylinders in circulation is much more than the actual number of connections, making the monitoring difficult and enabling illegal resale of domestic cylinders.
