Ludhiana: Rural areas of the district are also feeling the pinch of the tension in the middle east, with LPG supply affected. A number of LPG dealers in Khanna and Jagraon said they have a sizeable backlog of LPG cylinders to be delivered.Mohinder Kaur of Bhammadi village said they don’t have an extra LPG cylinder at home. She said they booked a cylinder around five to six days ago when the one they had was exhausted but they are still waiting for it to be delivered. Meanwhile, she said they were forced to cook on a “chullah.”Many residents of Jagraon are also complaining about delay in LPG cylinder supply. Manjeet Singh, resident of a a village near Jagraon, said they made multiple calls to the delivery executive of the gas agency but did not receive a response. He added that they would go to the agency to get the cylinder but they had heard about the rush caused by panic booking.Singh urged people to desist from panic booking saying that it would exacerbate the shortage. Chamkaur Singh of Chakkar village said he booked the cylinder before the crisis but apprehended problems if the situation worsened. He added that the gas agency delivery vehicle that could commonly be seen making rounds of the village had not been around for the past few days.In Machhiwara area, residents are facing issues with cylinder booking. Shiv Kumar of Jharaudi village said they wanted to book a cylinder but were told by the gas agency that the system is down. Meanwhile, gas agency owners confirmed that panic buying was taking place. Ravjyot Singh, a gas agency owner from Khanna, said as of now, their backlog for delivery of cylinders is 1,113. He added that they got a truck load of cylinders (360) on March 10, which were distributed on the same day and now, they were waiting for a fresh batch.He added that they usually get supplies on alternate days but supply has been affected by the recent crisis.Another gas agency owner, Simranjeet Singh of Khanna, said as of now, the backlog is between 1,200 to 1,300 for domestic customers even as supply of commercial cylinders (weighing 19 kilograms) was closed around a week ago. Due to fear of shortage, even those who still have gas left in cylinders are booking new ones, he said. The gas agency owner also said bookings were not being made as the system was not working and supply was inadequate. According to him, they were getting one vehicle of cylinders daily with 324, 306 or 360 LPG cylinders, depending on the vehicle.Rajeshinder Sidhu, a gas agency owner from Jagraon, said they have a backlog of 600 to 700 cylinders while they were delivering 300 to 350 cylinders daily. He added that people are booking cylinders due to panic.Usually, he said, cylinder bookings tapered in March as compared to Jan and Feb due to relatively warm weather, but this time, there were more bookings. He added that at times, bookings were also stalled by server issues and they were delivering cylinders only to customers who got their KYC done. Meanwhile, Tejinder Singh and Gagandeep Singh, gas agency managers in Machhiwara, advised people not to panic. He added that the gas agency was receiving supply is continuing, but delivery and bookings had been halted due to a system outage, which would be resolved soon.Can be added as box: Zero tolerance for black marketing Box 1: Narinder Singh, a gas agency owner in Jagraon, said there is no shortage of cylinders in Jagraon but there is a rush of people whose numbers had not been registered and whose KYC had not been done. Meanwhile, DSP Samrala Tarlochan Singh held a meeting with gas agency managers in Machhiwara on Thursday. Speaking to mediapersons, the DSP said gas agencies have been instructed to ensure that people do not face any problems during gas delivery. He added that anyone found selling cylinders in the black market or hoarding would not be spared.—
