NEW DELHI: The government-owned city gas distribution companies have rolled out incentives to encourage households to shift from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders to piped natural gas (PNG) connections, as the administration seeks to ease pressure on LPG supplies.
Companies such as Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) and Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) have announced benefits for consumers who opt for PNG connections in the coming weeks, a senior petroleum ministry official said on Monday.
IGL - the CNG and PNG retailer in Delhi and adjoining cities - is offering domestic consumers free gas worth Rs 500 if they take a PNG connection and start using it before March 31, while Mumbai-retailer Mahanagar Gas Ltd has announced incentives, including waiver of Rs 500 registration charge for domestic household consumers and Rs 1-5 lakh security deposit for commercial users. Similar promotional measures have also been introduced by GAIL and BPCL, said Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).
“The current situation is worrying. But LPG is being supplied to our domestic LPG consumers to meet all their requirements.
There are no reports of dry-outs at any LPG distributorship,” the official said.
LPG refill bookings have declined to about pre-war levels of 5055 lakh on March 15 from about 77 lakh on Saturday and a peak of 88.8 lakh on March 13, she said, but hastened to add that it remains to be seen if this was a permanent trend or a one-off decline primarily due to March 15 being a Sunday.
The share of online LPG bookings has risen to about 90 per cent from 87 per cent, with the government continuing to promise the use of digital modes of bookings rather than queuing up at LPG dealerships for panic purchases.
She said the current situation was “worrying”, but stressed that domestic consumers were continuing to receive supplies and there were no reports of dry-outs at LPG distributorships.
Consumers willing to shift to commercial PNG connections can contact CGD companies through e-mail, customer portals, letters or call centres, she said.