Jalandhar: Domestic consumers of LPG cylinders from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) are facing a shortage in supply across Punjab, parts of Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, with deliveries that would take a day or two now taking up 10 days and more.
It is learnt that the shortage has been caused by the shutdown of the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery in Bathinda for repairs, and HPCL was getting supplies from Kandla. As the refinery has been shut down during the peak season of demand for LPG cylinders, the gap between demand and supply appears larger. Distributors are facing pressure from consumers. Sources said supplies started reducing over a fortnight ago. In the last few days, administration officials also started receiving complaints.
As the problem has increased, Hoshiarpur district food and supplies controller Preet Kamal Singh Sood has called a meeting of the HPCL LPG dealers and officials of the company. When contacted, HPCL chief regional manager Abhishek Srivastava claimed that the waiting period had increased as they were getting supplies from Kandla. “We have already managed to bring down the time lag, and the situation will be restored to normal within a few days as the Bathinda refinery will resume operations from Dec 19,” he claimed.
