LPG booking gap raised to 35 days in Punjab

Households with double bottle (two-cylinder) connections in Punjab will now have to wait for 10 more days to book a refill with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) revising the period from 25 to 35 days for a 14.2-kg cylinder. The wait for Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries has gone up even further — by 20 days to 45.

Amid the LPG crunch in the wake of the West Asia war, the IOC today revised the interlocking period — mandatory gap between two LPG refill bookings — for various categories of consumers.

As per fresh directions to gas agencies, the period to book a 5-kg cylinder under the PMUY has been fixed at 16 days.

For non-PMUY domestic users, the revised norms vary depending upon the number of cylinders in a connection. Single-bottle consumers can book a 14.2-kg cylinder after 25 days, while the gap for a 5-kg cylinder is nine days and a 10-kg cylinder 18 days.

In case of double-bottle connections, the interlocking period has been set at 12 days for 5-kg cylinders and 25 days for 10-kg cylinders.

This is the second such revision since the start of the war. Earlier this month, the government had increased the waiting period for domestic LPG cylinder refill booking from 21 to 25 days in urban areas.

Officials said the revised timelines were aimed at regulating consumption patterns and streamlining LPG distribution.