Bhopal News: LPG Distributors Write To Government Over Consumer Curbs, Harassment

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The LPG Distributors Association has written to the Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, raising concerns over the imposition of arbitrary restrictions on LPG consumers and harassment of distributors by the Government and public sector oil companies.

In a letter dated March 20, the association said that due to the West Asia oil crisis, booking periods were arbitrarily increased from 15 to 25 days and to 45 days in rural areas without prior notice. This has led to widespread consumer dissatisfaction and incidents of violence against agency staff.

In several cases, distributors operating in municipal areas have been categorised as rural, resulting in discriminatory treatment of consumers.

Despite the crisis, the Government of India has increased the prices of domestic 14.2kg cylinders by Rs60 and commercial 19kg cylinders by approximately Rs155 twice. However, home delivery charges and administrative fees for distributors have not been revised in the past three years, leading to exploitation of distributors, the letter stated.

The letter further said that under the Prime Minister s rural scheme, thousands of distributors were appointed. However, many supply only 600-1,000 refills per month and earn between Rs 43,000 and Rs 70,000 as commission, while operational costs range between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh. Officials continue to pressure them to comply with minimum wage obligations.

The sudden implementation of 100% online booking, coupled with frequent server failures, has caused severe operational issues. Distributors are forced to work till midnight, while consumers are misinformed, leading to disputes and violence. Several lakh LPG connections have been arbitrarily deactivated as non-active, and distributors are being compelled to carry out e-KYC without any compensation.