Crisis Confounded: LPG Dealers go on strike

SHAH ABBAS
Srinagar

LPG crises in Kashmir further worsened on Monday when the local distributors decided neither to distribute cylinders nor to issue any documents. They demanded immediate settlement of the issues between the oil companies and the government and announced a two day strike beginning Tuesday, November 6, 2012, against “state intervention”.

“We work under the oil companies through central ministry, but state government is issuing new orders for us almost on daily basis,” a delegation of the LPG dealers said. “How can we follow directions from two sides?.” They said as three sides are exercising control over us, the customer is facing serious problem as “we are caught in between.”

Dealers resorted to massive sloganeering against Oil Companies and demanded immediate steps to solve the problems being faced by the common masses. “We are going for a two day strike from Tuesday so that the concerned authorities are compelled to solve the matter once for all,” they said.

While the cap on subsidized LPG cylinders by the Centre has put consumers in Kashmir in trouble, the limitations in the number of distributors is another major crisis because they are unable to resort to multi-tasking involving a large client base.

Official records suggest there are only 43 LPG dealers operating in the Valley, while as per all India norms there should have been around 1,700 distributors to cater to the requirement of 10 lakh consumers.

As per the current dealer-consumer ratio, every dealer in the Valley on an average has to cater to around 23,000 consumers, while the national average is only 600 consumers per dealer.

Sources said that a few dealers, most of whom are connected with politicians, have monopolized the distribution system. “They (existing dealers) don’t allow any new dealership to be allotted in the Valley,” sources added.

Kashmir is facing serious crisis for LPG because of the new norms in vogue. The shortage can trigger a larger problem when the mercury falls further. LPG is one of the major requirements for managing hearths and living room warmth during winters.