New Delhi: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), had recently prepared a draft to ensure the supply of LPG cylinders to a consumer within 24 hours of booking.
In case the distributor of a particular gas company is unable to provide the cylinder within 24 hours, another distributor and that too of another gas company, could alternately provide the cylinder.
Whether the consumer is subscribed to a particular gas company will not matter here.
For example, if an Indane consumer does not get the cylinder within 24 hours of booking, then the nearby BPCL or HPCL distributor can supply that.
The draft has been submitted to experts for their opinions. Based on these, the final plan will be executed.
Initially, a pilot will be run in some parts of the country and if the pilot is successful, then this will be implemented across the country.
The Petroleum Ministry and the LPG companies also need to set up a centralised digital platform for this purpose.
As per the Regulatory Board, there are 17 lakh complaints submitted against the PSU gas companies every year.
Complaints about delayed cylinder delivery constitute 58 per cent of complaints for Indian Oil, 47 per cent for HPCL and 49 per cent for BPCL.
Currently, 48 hours is scheduled for any cylinder delivery. However, many consumers are not aware of the remedy if this deadline is missed.
In many cases, inadequate stock, transport problems, inclement weather or some other unforeseen circumstances can cause delays.
However, another gas company might have adequate stock at the same time, very close to the consumer. The current plan envisages changing this precisely.
