The Hindu : New Delhi News : Booking LPG a harassment for consumers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 03, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Booking LPG a harassment for consumers

Staff Reporter

Nefarious activities of gas dealers are making life difficult for people living in Dellhi and satellite townships

NEW DELHI: Even as the problem of acute shortage of cooking gas cylinders continued to haunt a large number of residents in and around Delhi this Diwali, sweets shops and restaurants continued to make hay allegedly by bribing gas suppliers and misusing the domestic cylinders for commercial purposes.

Worse still, when the harassed consumers confronted the gas suppliers, they were shown the rulebook that the dealers themselves violated. "When we tried to book a cylinder recently, we were clearly told that no booking would be taken for 21 days after a cylinder has been supplied. But even after a booking there is no guarantee that the cylinder would reach for another 10 days,'' said Bharati Ghosh, a resident of Chittaranjan Park in South Delhi.

Swaran Thukral, a housewife and resident of SU Block Pitampura in North West Delhi, also complained of her gas dealer not picking up the phone to take the booking. "And when finally we managed to get our gas booked, we got a rude shock as on confirmation we were told that there was no booking against our name.''

The problem is most acute with Indane Gas of Indian Oil Corporation.

A resident of Shipra Sun City in Ghaziabad, K. Gupta, said: "Not only is there a delay in supply of cylinders after booking, most of the times the gas dealer, Yedu Gas, keeps the phone off the hook to avoid taking bookings. Also, a week after booking the gas when I enquired about the delivery, I was told that there was no booking against my name.''

Another consumer of the gas company said while its vendors were seen openly selling the gas in black, whenever a consumer demands information, they are rudely told that there is a shortage of supply.

Due to the artificially created shortage and the inability of the Union Petroleum Ministry to keep tabs on the nefarious activities of the gas dealers who themselves indulge in large-scale diversion of gas for profit -- thereby defeating the very purpose of subsidy -- a large number of residents of Delhi and satellite townships have spent the festive days around Diwali and Id for fear of losing out on their gas supply, their only source of fuel for domestic cooking.

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