LPG crunch: States crack down on hoarding

Home secy asks states to protect supply chain

- HT Correspondents [e-mail]

State governments on Wednesday launched crackdowns on hoarding and black-marketing of LPG cylinders as fears of supply shortage, triggered by the ongoing West Asia conflict, caused long queues and clashes in several parts of the country.

Meanwhile, certain states permitted commercial establishments to use traditional cooking methods to combat commercial LPG shortage.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed district officials to conduct raids against hoarding or black-marketing of fuel and cooking gas, officials said on Wednesday. Enforcement teams and magistrates checked petrol pumps and LPG agencies, including those in Gautam Buddh Nagar, to ensure normal sales.

Long queues persisted outside cylinder agencies in districts such as Lakhimpur, Gorakhpur, and Jhansi, where locals claimed they had not received cylinders for five to 10 days despite advance bookings. Ajay Nishad in Gorakhpur said he had not received his LPG cylinder despite booking 10 days earlier, with about 400 people queued outside the agency. “Iam here since 3 am and not sure whether I will get cylinder,” he said.

Police on Wednesday detained eight people in Pipiganj, Gorakh-pur district, after a scuffle broke out among people queued outside a gas agency.

“The police used mild force to disperse the crowd and bring the situation under control,” said SP North Gyanendra Kumar.

Moreover, Gorakhpur district supply officer Ramendra Pratap Singh ordered the sealing of two gas agencies for hoarding and irregularities in distribution.

In Bihar, police issued an advisory calling for crackdowns on hoarders and measures to prevent law-and-order breakdowns after reports of fights at distribution centres and black-marketing.