Patna, March 11 Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said on Wednesday that the Centre and the state government were making efforts to ensure an adequate supply of LPG cylinders to the people.
Amid the nationwide constraint in the supply of cooking gas due to the West Asia crisis, he asserted that the Bihar government was taking action to check the black marketing of the fuel.
Speaking to reporters here, Choudhary said, "The central government has issued special guidelines to officials to control the situation. The government has also ordered a 10 per cent increase in domestic LPG production."
LPG production, CNG, and piped cooking gas will take precedence over all other sectors using natural gas as the Centre rejigged allocation to ensure uninterrupted supply for households and transport sectors.
As the widening West Asia conflict disrupted 30 per cent of India's gas supply, the oil ministry, in a gazette notification, ordered available gas to be diverted from non-priority sectors to key users.
Choudhary said, "Efforts are being made to ensure an adequate supply of LPG cylinders to the people, and any form of black marketing will not be tolerated."
Describing the present LPG supply constraint as a "special situation", BJP state president Sanjay Saraogi said that the central government has taken the matter seriously.
"The West Asia crisis has been continuing for around two weeks. This is a special situation. The manner in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken up the matters is commendable," he said.
Saraogi said the Bihar government has also written to district officials to ensure that there is no shortage of LPG cylinders and hoarding or black marketing is strictly checked.
"The Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) has been imposed. PM Modi directed ministers during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that people should not be left to suffer on account of the conflict in West Asia," he said.
The BJP leader claimed that the situation is "under control", but if need be, "restraint should be exercised" in the use of LPG cylinders.
Meanwhile, Congress workers in Patna staged a protest on Wednesday against the alleged shortage of LPG cylinders.
Former president of Bihar Congress's Minorities wing, Parvez Hasan, urged the Central government to come up with transparent data on the present stocks.
"The government says there is no shortage. If there is no shortage, then why has it come up with a notification announcing a 25-day gap period for refill of commercial and domestic LPG cylinders? Commercial cylinders, in particular, are required to be refilled every second or third day," he said.
At the same time, people queued up at cooking gas agency outlets in several districts, including Patna, Kaimur, Motihari and Darbhanga, to buy LPG cylinders, while distributors said that customers have turned up in large numbers due to panic over short supply rumours.
Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India assistant manager Sanghamitra Mukherjee said that the organisation has written a letter to the central government, highlighting the impact of LPG cylinder supply disruption on eateries.
"We have to wait and watch for some time. The association has sent a letter to the concerned ministry of the central government, but we are yet to receive a response," she said.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Patna, Director General of Police (DGP) Vinay Kumar acknowledged that the shortage of LPG cylinders "is a problem".
"There is a problem, and the state government has been very sensitive in its handling. Meetings and deliberations are being consistently held under the leadership of chief secretary," he said.
The DGP said that there are certain aspects of the problem which are "not under our control", but efforts are being made to ensure "there is no serious fallout and basic requirements are covered".