LPG supply to sealed areas to be hit by 50% in Pune

PUNE: LPG dealers expect a major disruption in the supply of

cylinders

to the micro-containment zones in the city during the 10-day

total lockdown

.


Sources from the All India LPG Distributors Federation and local agencies said a shortage of staff, a sudden spurt in

panic booking

of cylinders and barricades are the main hurdles in serving the 109 sealed areas.

All India LPG Distributors Federation’s

Maharashtra president Usha Poonawalla

said there was a 10-15% increase in the number of bookings in the past two days. “All these areas will be barricaded. Also, there is a shortage of delivery and office staff. All of this combined could impact 50% of LPG delivery orders during this lockdown,” Poonawalla said.

“I somehow made deliveries when the restrictions were relaxed in June, but it would be difficult to maintain this in the next few days,” a distributor in Bhavani Peth said.

Chithra Nair, district nodal officer, LPG supplies, Pune, told TOI said they would try to ensure 100% home delivery. “During the previous lockdown too, police allowed us to deliver cylinders only till the barricade of the containment zones. We will have to wait for a couple of days and see how things would be this time around,” Nair said.

She suggested that customers opt for ‘double bottle cylinder’ (two cylinders and one regulator), so that they have a spare cylinder in times of emergency.