By Our Reporter
Shillong: While consumers of LPG Cylinders in the city complained about shortage of distribution of LPG cylinders, Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills, Sanjay Goyal has informed that the distribution has slightly improved compared to the last 15 days.
Reacting to complaints from various sections of the society, Goyal stated that the supply of LPG cylinders has gone up to 70 percent this week compared to the previous weeks with only 50 percent supply in the market.
“In the meeting held with the Regional Chief Area Manager of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) just recently, I was apprised of the fact that LPG supply has gone up to 70 percent and the distribution has slightly improved”, the DC informed on Saturday.
Goyal also informed that owing to the various developmental processes in some of the production units, the supply of LPG cylinders has gone down but it is expected to be normal tentatively by first week of July.
“As per the information received, I have been informed that the supply and distribution will probably be normal by the first week of July, but till then, the people need to cooperate with the administration”, the EKH DC said.
During the last meeting with the Regional Chief Area Manager of IOC, the DC has informed about the assurance made by the IOC stating that shortage of cooking gas in city is expected to become normal only by June.
Recently, the KSU Raid Laban Circle has apprised the DC of the problems faced by the residents of Raid Laban with regard to irregular distribution of LPG cylinder by Longkmie Gas Agency, causing much inconvenience to the people at large.
They have asked the district administration to conduct an inquiry on the agency so as to determine the cause of the shortage of LPG cylinder while demanding immediate intervention on the matter to curb illegal activities regarding the distribution.
However, the DC has listed out various reasons behind shortage of distribution by blaming it on the non-availability of imported LPG bulk and less production units in the region and the recent shut down of some production units for maintenance which takes one and half month to complete.
It may be mentioned that the total requirement for the Northeast is around 20 lakh cylinders per month and 400 distributors in the Northeast are catering the public needs in this regard. Approximately, 70 per cent of the country’s fuel requirement is imported.