Demand is huge, supply less, rue LPG distributor

BANGALORE: While consumers’ complaints about shortage of LPG cylinder supply and hike in cylinder tariffs recently has made news, our problems have been sidelined, LPG cylinder distributors across city opine.They say the major concern is the gap between the demand and supply. Shashikumar, an LPG cylinder distributor says, “We have 25,000 customers, but we are able to meet the demands of only 15,000 customers. Even to supply to them, we need 22 days. We always fall short of stocks.” Speaking about delivery boys charging extra money against the bill amount, he says, the agencies can take action only if customers file a written complaint. While authorised dealers of public sector petroleum companies sell LPG cylinders at Rs 418, private players sell it for Rs 940 excluding other charges like connection charges. Apart from this, the middle men sell the LPG cylinders for commercial purposes, when they are meant for domestic use, causing a loss for us, the distributors allege.However, customers complain though they submit applications for new connections, for many months there is no response from the gas cylinder suppliers.