LPG distributors up in arms against oil companies
By IANSWednesday, January 20, 2010
KARNAL - Punjab and Haryana’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) distributors are up in arms against oil companies, particularly Hindustan Petroleum (HP), who are unable to fulfil the domestic demand for LPG, leading to a big backlog.
All India LPG Distributors Federation (AILDF), north-west region, held their core group meeting here Wednesday to deliberate on the issue.
The distributors said there was a huge backlog of refills, especially with HP gas, due to which they faced the wrath of both consumers and local administration, whereas oil companies were not bothered.
“There is backlog ranging from 20 to 30 days with HP gas distributors in various towns of the region. This is the third year in a row when during the winters, HP gas has supplied domestic LPG refills, in short numbers, to its distributors,” said K.J.S. Buttar, president of AILDF (north-west region).
He added: “During winters, the demand increases by over 25 percent but the oil companies intentionally reduced the supply of domestic LPG refills. This is because they lose around Rs.200 and above per LPG refill sold, as the international prices normally peak during winter months but the price of domestic LPG remained the same.”
During the meeting, representatives of AILDF decided to take up the matter with the state-level coordinators of the oil industry so that the LPG supply can be expedited in the region.
Another senior member of AILDF said: “On one side there is a shortage of domestic LPG supply but on the other side there is no shortage of supply of LPG to its commercial and bulk consumers. This is because commercial LPG is sold at almost three times the price being charged from the domestic consumers.”
HP officials refused to comment on the issue. “I do not want to say anything on this issue right now. Moreover, I am not authorised to speak to the media,” Abhinav Sethi, HP sales manager, Chandigarh, told IANS Wednesday.
