Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Government has urged the Centre to sanction more LPG connections to meet the growing demand.

Unable to cope with the demand and frequent complaints from consumers about delay in delivery of refill cylinders, Civil Supplies Minister Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy has urged Union Petroleum Minister Murali Deora to sanction more connections.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Krishna Reddy said the present supply of gas cylinders to the State was 71,890 metric tonnes (net weight of gas) per month, which needed to be enhanced further to meet the demand.

Admitting lapses in the delivery mechanism, he said they would be rectified at the earliest. At present, there are 1.03 crore LPG connections in the State. As many as 34.68 lakh consumers have double cylinders, 34.46 lakh have single cylinder while 32.12 lakh have Deepam (subsidised) connections.

He said the Government would examine the suggestion to set up a call centre that would record calls and generate acknowledgement.

Asked about Iris ration cards, the Minister said in all 2.22 crore white and pink cards had been issued across the State. Mr. Krishna Reddy, who earlier held a review meeting with Joint Collectors and Civil Supplies officials, said it was planned to procure 61.83 lakh tonnes of raw and boiled rice as part of kharif marketing season.

Paddy procurement till Monday was 83,570 tonnes, he added.

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