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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, JULY 30: With the Gujarat cyclone triggering a shortage of LPG supplies in the country, the Government has decided to drastically curtail the number of fresh LPG connections that are to be sanctioned during the year. LPG dealers across the country have also been asked to adhere strictly to the rule which prevents users from making repeat bookings for gas cylinders before a gap of 21 days, as this will automatically restrict demand.
While no estimate is available of how many fresh LPG connections will eventually be sanctioned, last year close to 50 lakh fresh connections were made available across the country. This year, however, the governments attempt will be to meet demand from existing customers first, rather than enlist more customers. Fifty lakh new consumers, based on current consumption patterns, for example, would add up to an additional demand of around a million tonnes of LPG.
This years total demand for LPG is expected to be of the order of around 5.5 million tonnes, of whichapproximately two million must be met from imports. Currently, however, the only imports taking place are at the Mangalore port which can handle up to 65,000 tonnes per month (7.8 lakh tonnes for the year). The Kandla port, before the cyclone, used to handle another 40,000 tonnes per month (4.8 lakh per year).
Last year, LPG import handling took a serious beating with imports stopping at both Mumbai and Vizag ports. While the Vizag operations were stopped following the fire at HPCLs refinery, the Mumbai operations were halted following serious safety lapses which were revealed in an audit the pipeline used for transporting LPG was over-land and passed through a residential locality. Neither of these two facilities are expected to be restarted in the immediate future.
While the government, especially the Ministry of Petroleum, has managed to do a tremendous job of augmenting and transporting supplies all over the country in record time, the problem is likely to get aggravated in the coming months incomparison with the summer months, demand usually picks up by 20 per cent or so by September, going up to 30 per cent in the winter months.
So far, to avoid shortages, the government has been moving more LPG from Mangalore by rail to various parts of the country. Existing stocks at Kandla are also being moved out by rail.
