22 cylinders seized as admin steps up anti-hoarding drive

Bhopal: Even as concerns over LPG availability triggered panic bookings in the city amid the ongoing global supply uncertainty, the district administration intensified action against hoarding and black marketing of domestic gas cylinders, seizing 22 cylinders in the past 2 days.District Collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh said teams of the district administration and food department carried out raids to prevent illegal stockpiling and diversion of cylinders. "We constituted 7 teams of district administration and 2 teams of the food department, which are conducting raids to ensure no hoarding or black marketing of cylinders. In the past 2 days, our teams seized 22 cylinders — 17 on Wednesday, and 5 cylinders on Thursday, on the second day," Singh told TOI.Officials said the administration stepped up monitoring of LPG agencies and supply chains after reports of panic buying surfaced in the city. According to the Collector, domestic cylinder availability remains stable as long as there is no hoarding.Authorities also pointed out that a section of the city already relies on piped gas. "Around 35,000 households and about 100 out of 2,000 hotels in the city have piped gas supplies. This needs to be increased. For the remaining, we are encouraging the use of alternate systems like diesel-based stoves and commercial induction cooktops for hotels," Singh added.