Oil marketing companies yet to issue new LPG connections to domestic consumers
Despite normalisation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplies to both domestic and commercial customers, distributors said the oil marketing companies (OMCs) were yet to issue
Despite normalisation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplies to both domestic and commercial customers, distributors said the oil marketing companies (OMCs) were yet to issue new domestic connections. People, who have been waiting since March, when the conflict began in West Asia, said they were vexed. “We got married in February, and I brought my wife Radha to Chennai in March. We have been managing with an induction stove given to us by our houseowner. It is slow and not all utensils can be used with an induction stove. Rarely, we use the houseowner’s gas stove. The gas agency suggested that we buy the small cylinder, but that is too costly for us,” said Uthanraj, who works at a provision store in the city.
Another newly-wed couple, who got married in May, said they had submitted their application for a new LPG connection but had become fed up of asking the agency when they will get the connection. “My wife is not used to cooking with an induction stove. It runs on electricity, and she gets jittery about it. I have to be with her in that case, but I have to go out for work. Hence, we are managing with the 5-kg cylinders at the moment and ordering food. It will be great if the government considered our requests for new connections soon,” the husband said. Another consumer in south Chennai said that for the past few years, they had been managing on cylinders supplied by gas delivery boys.
When she tried to get a connection, she was told to get a 5-kg connection. “Not all agencies are providing such connections. It took some push to get it done. I hope when the situation is normalised, I will be able to convert it to a domestic double-bottle connection,” she said. Distributors said their agencies were receiving walk-in customers asking for new connections almost every single day. “We are unable to provide new connections. We have only been noting their names and phone numbers with the promise of issuing cylinders as soon as possible,” said a distributor. Another distributor said OMC officials had been pressuring them to sell stoves and hoses despite the fact that no new connections were being issued.
“If new connections are issued, we can sell gas stoves. But now, consumers cannot simply be told to buy stoves for no reasons. With the orange hose, it is another story altogether. Some distributors are saddled with thousands of hoses. It will take them at least two years to sell 4,000 hoses. So, we would be giving consumers hoses that have a short life,” he added.
The BriefWire