Consumers may have to wait longer to get the delivery of cooking gas during the month of August as the latest rejig of the lockdown dates — the fifth so far — will eat out seven working days from the calendar.
Production and delivery of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) has been kept out of the ambit of emergency services which are to be exempted during the complete lockdown days, according to a Bengal government order.
In the initial days of the lockdown from March-end onwards, cooking gas remained under exempted categories such as the supply of milk or petrol pumps. During the state-initiated weekly lockdown, pumps are being allowed to operate but not the delivery of LPG or milk.
“There will only be 18 working days in August. The truncated schedule will create a huge supply issue and push up the waiting period. We have appealed to the highest authority of the state to allow delivery of LPG,” Abhijit Dey, chief general manager (LPG) of Indian Oil, said.
Gariahat resident Dulal Roy said the delivery of cylinder is now prompt, a far cry from the initial days of the nationwide lockdown when panic stocking, coupled with delivery constraints, had forced public sector oil marketing companies to impose a mandatory 15-day cool-off period for booking after getting delivery for non-PMAY customer.
“We are getting supply within 2-3 days,” Roy said.
However, the waiting period may get longer. Pawas Srivastava, deputy general manager (LPG) of HPCL in the Calcutta region, said the waiting period may expand to 5-7 days because of supply disruptions. According to him, the state has given leeway to operate the bottling plants but this may not ease the situation.
“The mandatory 15-day waiting period has now been lifted. Hence, there is pick up in demand. Delivery at the local distributor level is required. Operating a bottling plant may not help because there will not be supply of empty cylinders, which are delivered by trucks,” Srivastava said.
Distributors say they are making an effort to extend working hours during the regular days and also work on Sundays. “We are encouraging delivery boys to work longer shifts. But this may not be enough. Waiting period will go up,” said Asim Som, proprietor of Som Service, an LPG distributor in Calcutta.
There are about 87.39 lakh regular LPG connections in Bengal, half of which are located in districts of Calcutta, Howrah, North and South 24-Parganas and Hooghly. There are over 200 distributors three oil companies put together, making it a busy location.
The number of active consumers goes to 2.24 crore if those who received connection under centrally sponsored Pradhan Mantri Ujjala Yojana are added up.