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NEW DELHI: Amid pressure on domestic LPG supply, govt on Saturday clamped down on consumers keeping both piped cooking gas and LPG connections and directed them to surrender the latter.It also said consumers having PNG connections will not be allowed to take refills of domestic LPG from any public sector oil company. Though the exact number of consumers having both PNG and LPG connections was not known, officials said the figure could be substantial.

Govt issued a gazette notification on Saturday under the Essential Commodities Act and amended the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order by including these clauses. It has also issued directions to oil companies declaring supplying of domestic LPG cylinder refills to consumers already owning PNG as a “prohibited activity”.Petroleum ministry officials said despite ensuring the supply for domestic consumers, panic booking for refills had increased by nearly 60%, from 55.7 lakh in Feb to 88.8 lakh on March 13, forcing govt to take some immediate measures. Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the petroleum ministry, said though the supply of LPG was still an “issue of concern”, govt’s highest priority is to ensure an uninterrupted supply of cooking gas cylinders to domestic consumers, educational institutions and hospitals. While govt is tapping new geographies to purchase LPG, Sharma said the refineries had ramped up domestic production by 31%.Sharma said the PSU oil companies had been asked to promote digital LPG bookings and urged consumers not to visit dealerships. While 84% people were booking their refills online, officials said visiting the dealership was just adding to the queues.“LPG cylinders can be booked easily through digital platforms such as IVRS calls, SMS, WhatsApp and mobile applications of the oil marketing companies. Consumers are advised to book cylinders from home and avoid visiting LPG distributors unnecessarily,” Sharma said, adding that the IVRS system of one OMC was malfunctioning, which has now been set right.The officer again asked domestic and commercial consumers to switch to PNG. Piped gas is available in 307 geographical areas across the country. To encourage people, Indraprastha Gas Limited in Delhi said domestic consumers activating their dormant PNG connections or getting a new one by March 31 will be given a waiver of Rs 500 in their first bill. Officials said the company had doubled its capacity of giving new connections, from 700-800 a day to 1,500 daily. They confirmed that queries for PNG connections in the capital had increased “3-4 times” in just two days.To prevent black marketing and hoarding, teams of the food and civil supplies departments of respective states and OMCs were conducting raids and taking action.