Assam faces massive LPG shortage

Assam has been facing massive LPG shortage for the last three months after a blast in Numaligarh Refinery's LPG unit on April 7 that severely affected cylinder refilling process.

According to a rough estimation there is a dearth of around 5 lakh LPG cylinders every month.

The crisis of LPG cylinder will remain for coming two or three months, said an Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) official.

 Notably, Assam requires 12.5 lakh to 13 lakh LPG cylinder every month.

According to an IOC source, the supply of LPG from Numaligarh Refinery, Digboi Refinery, Barauni-Haldia Refinery has decreased to a great extent in last three month.

IOC gets four thousand metric tones of LPG from Numaligarh Refinery every month. IOC produces 70 gas cylinders from one metric tone of LPG.

Accordingly Digboi Refinery supplies nine hundred metric tones of LPG to IOC every month. But during last three months this quaintly has also decreased.

Meanwhile, black marketers are taking advantage of the shortage and have raised the price of LPG
cylinder to an unreasonable extent. The government department is trying hard to stop black marketing of gas cylinders.