New Delhi: Delhi police has seized 1,710 cylinders and registered 22 FIRs against LPG cylinder hoarding and black marketing across Delhi in March.While the crime branch has seized 1,145 cylinders, districts have seized 565 cylinders.Among district units, South district reported the highest recovery with 223 cylinders, followed by South West with 119.Dwarka, West and South East districts also reported seizures ranging between 60 and 65 cylinders.Several districts yielded minimal recoveries. East district carried out the maximum number of raids at 30 but seized only 5 cylinders, while Shahdara conducted 18 raids and found just 9 cylinders. This points to either low-yield operations or a greater focus on routine checking rather than intelligence-driven crackdowns.In contrast, some districts showed a higher conversion of raids into legal action. South West district registered 6 FIRs from 7 raids, while West recorded 4 FIRs from 5 raids.The crime branch also registered FIRs in all three raids, indicating more targeted operations. The FIRs were registered under sections of the the Essential Commodities Act and BNS.Notably, no raids were reported in Central, New Delhi, North East, Outer North and Outer districts.On March 26, the crime branch busted a racket at a gas agency in the Ranhola area of Outer Delhi, seizing 459 commercial cylinders. Police said, agency owners had been stockpiling these to create an artificial scarcity.In Sangam Vihar, police found delivery personnel siphoning 1–2 kg of LPG from filled domestic cylinders into empty ones, using metal pipes. These “refilled” cylinders were then sold for as much as Rs 3,000.In multiple operations, police noted that the hoarding was a severe fire hazard, as the illegal transfers were being carried out in rented godowns within densely populated residential pockets without any safety protocols.
