HYDERABAD: Housewives in the city are increasingly concerned over the acute shortage of domestic Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders.

Some even fear that they would not be able to serve their dear ones with delicacies this festive season, if the situation is not contained at the earliest.

One aspect stands common at all the LPG distribution outlets -- the long line of customers. The apathy of dealers in supplying the cylinders is forcing many customers to opt for illegal purchases from brokers. The customers allege that it is a strategy of dealers in the city.

"Dealers say that the delay in supply of cylinders is inevitable. But at the same time one can get a cylinder from a broker by paying extra Rs.100 or Rs.200. The only condition is that one has to replace it with the same company's cylinder. The more you pay the better the service," says Mohd. Altaf, a customer.

So intense is the problem that the waiting list at many dealer outlets goes into thousands. While it is nearly 8,500 at a Bharat Gas outlet in Koti, it touched 9,000 at a Hindustan Petroleum outlet at Dilsukhnagar. " It takes nearly a fortnight for dealers to supply a cylinder. I don't know the reason," says E. Navaneet, a Bharat Gas customer at Koti.

Dealers' version

In reply, dealers say the delay is due to shortage of empty cylinders. "The delay is due to lack of empty cylinders at filling stations. They do not have back-up cylinders.

They have to wait for empty cylinders and this probably is one of the reasons apart from the cut in supply from the plants," says G. Shivanand, manager of a dealership outlet at Koti.

"On an average, we supply nearly 300 cylinders a day against our requirement of 600 per day," he adds.

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