LPG cylinder cancellations surge as panic booking subsides, rush at agencies eases

Pune: LPG distributors in the city are witnessing a sharp rise in booking cancellations as panic-driven demand eases, with many consumers now declining deliveries due to the absence of an empty cylinder."As the situation has calmed down, a lot of cancellations are taking place. People had booked in panic earlier, but now when we attempt delivery, they say they don't have an empty cylinder and thus cannot be given a new refill," a distributor said. He added that delivery timelines have significantly improved, except for some city pockets, with several agencies now supplying cylinders within 48 hours. "We are delivering within the deadline. There is no rush now," he said.Data from the distributor showed that a chunk of scheduled deliveries are getting cancelled. "Out of the total orders, almost 30% are cancelled the next day. The main reasons are ‘no empty cylinder' and ‘out of town'," he said. Of these cancellations, a bulk are due to consumers not having an empty cylinder, indicating earlier panic bookings, while the rest are attributed to people travelling during the ongoing school holiday season. Distributors added that premature bookings have disrupted operations.Parvati Shetty, a resident of Vimannagar, said the situation on- ground reflects the easing trend. "We are getting a refill now after 25 days. The rush seems to be reducing at agencies as well. On Friday, I visited the agency for KYC enquiry and found that there were no queues," she said.Pravin Khandalkar, director, All India LPG Distributors Federation, Maharashtra, said there has been a clear easing of demand, with fewer people visiting agencies and a noticeable drop in rush. "There is no rush now, the crowd has reduced significantly. Along with that, a large number of cancellations are also happening," he said.He explained that many of these cancellations are a result of panic bookings made earlier, with consumers now declining deliveries. "People booked cylinders in panic. But when the delivery boy reaches, they do not have an empty cylinder or are not available at home," he said.He added that such failed delivery attempts are affecting overall service efficiency. "When cylinders return undelivered, it delays other genuine orders as well," he said, pointing to the cascading impact on supply timelines. He also highlighted procedural challenges, saying that cancellations are not immediate."An order cannot be cancelled immediately. It requires an OTP from the customer. In many cases, customers do not provide it, and cancellation happens only after multiple delivery attempts," he said, adding that this leads to repeated visits and inflated pending orders in the system.Another representative from the federation said distributors are pushing for compliance measures to streamline the system. "There is a gazetted notification by Govt of India that e-KYC should be completed. Once this is done, we will have a list of bona fide, regularised customers with registered connections," the representative said.