Panic booking of LPG crashes system in TG
Sudden spike in orders hit online booking platforms, IVRS services
Hyderabad: Amid pervasive fears over ‘shortage’ of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) due to the raging Middle East conflict, panic booking of cooking gas cylinders by households has led to a surge in bookings being received by oil marketing companies, crashing the automated LPG booking system at several distribution points across the state.
The sudden spike in orders has paralysed the distribution network. Online booking platforms, IVRS services and WhatsApp-based booking channels have repeatedly crashed as servers struggle to process the surge in consumer requests.
According to Telangana LPG Distributors Association, the unexpected rush of consumers to book cylinders has strained the system, triggering both technical and operational difficulties. It has paralysed the operations at many LPG distribution centres in the state.
K Jagan Mohan Reddy, president of the Telangana LPG Distributors Association, said: “Domestic LPG stocks remain sufficient. There is regular supply also. But there is panic booking among the consumers; so, pendency is increasing. Since there is a sudden surge by 50 per cent, there is a delay in supplying. It is because of panic buying,” he said.
On reports of black marketing of LPG cylinders, Jagan Mohan said: “For the past three or four days, there has been almost no supply of commercial cylinders. Some people must have some old stock and may try to sell it at a premium price.” There are 810 LPG distributors in Telangana with 1.30 crore consumers and about 60 lakh LPG domestic cylinders are supplied every month. He said 82 per cent of the consumers are domestic, while the remaining 18 per cent belong to the commercial category. A gas distributor said: “Earlier this week, the agencies were delivering cylinders in a couple of days.
However, bookings have now spiked into thousands at each agency as people are panic-booking out of fear. The current rush of orders has become a major bottleneck to ensure delivery.” Meanwhile, the supply squeeze has also triggered sharp price spikes in the open market. The domestic LPG cylinders that normally cost around Rs 960 have reportedly been sold at Rs 1,200 – Rs 1,500 in the name of shortage illegally due to the panic buying of the consumers.
However, to prevent diversion of cylinders to the black-market, oil companies have tightened delivery verification rules. Distributors have been instructed to deliver cylinders only after confirming a one-time password (OTP) sent to the consumer’s registered mobile number.
