Panic buying cripples LPG booking system in Telangana

Hyderabad: A massive surge in panic buying has led to the collapse of LPG booking system at several distribution points across Telangana.

According to Telangana LPG Distributors Association president Kalluri Jagan Mohan Reddy, the sudden spike in orders has paralysed the distribution network, disrupting operations at many LPG distribution centres in the state.

He said the unexpected rush of consumers to book cylinders has strained the system, triggering both technical and operational difficulties at multiple locations on Thursday.

“There is no problem with respect to domestic cylinders. There is a regular supply also. But there is panic booking among the consumers, so pendency is increasing. Since there is a sudden surge in business by 50 per cent, there is a delay in supplying. It is because of panic buying,” Reddy told PTI.

Since the delivery of LPG cylinders is based on OTP system, which is an all India based network for authentication across the country, there is tremendous pressure at the distribution points.

There are 810 LPG distributors in Telangana with 1.30 crore consumers and about 60 lakh LPG domestic cylinders are supplied every month.

Reddy said 82 per cent of consumers are domestic, while the remaining 18 per cent belong to the commercial category.

“For the past three or four days, there has been almost no supply of commercial cylinders. Some people must have some old stock and may try to sell it at a premium price,” he said in response to a question about black marketing of LPG cylinders.

There are five cooking gas bottling plants in Telangana- Three in Charlapalli near here, and one each in Kamalapur ( Warangal) and Timmapur (Balanagar).

Telangana Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy had called for a meeting with oil company representatives on Friday to examine if there is a shortage in supply and how to move forward.

State government Chief Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao would also be present at the meeting, he said.