New Delhi: The Government has asked public sector oil companies to increase supply of domestic LPG to ease shortages in availability of the cooking gas in some parts of the country.


"We are taking all steps and you will see the situation will ease in next few days," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters here.

Shortages arose after consumers resorted to panic booking for LPG refills following reports of a proposed steep hike in cooking gas prices and also due to extended winter because of which the fuel was being used for heating purposes, Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan said.

"There are huge diversions taking place. LPG cylinders meant for domestic use are finding way to restaurants and hotels and even wedding meals are being cooked on domestic gas. That is gross misuse. This has resulted in inconvenience to household users in some parts," he said.

India imported 2.288 million tons of LPG in 2006-07 fiscal and is expecting a 11-12 per cent growth in the cooking gas consumption, Srinivasan said. "This year we are expected to end up with 2.9 million tons and even more. We imported five extra cargoes during last two months just to ease the winter demand," he said.

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Admitting LPG bottling plant constraints with some companies, he said the plants have been asked to operate even on holidays to clear the backlog.

LPG shortages were reported from parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, Kerala and Karnataka. To check diversion of subsidised domestic cooking gas, the government had introduced a system of providing a LPG refills to a household once in 21 days. Requests for LPG refills are accepted only after 21 days from the previous delivery.