New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) The government on Saturday said that more than 17.25 lakh 5-kg FTL cylinders have been sold since March 23, adding that since April 3, PSU oil marketing companies (OMCs) have organised more than 6,450 awareness camps for 5-kg FTL cylinders, wherein more than 90,000 such cylinders were sold.

These 5-kg FTL cylinders are at the disposal of the state governments for supplying only to migrant labourers in their states with assistance from OMCs.

Meanwhile, total commercial LPG allocation has been increased to about 70 per cent of pre-crisis levels, including 10 per cent reform-linked allocation.

On April 17, 8,216 MT of commercial LPG (equivalent to more than 4.32 lakh 19-kg cylinders) was sold.

A total of 1,58,583 MT commercial LPG has been sold since March 14. This includes more than 9,200 MT of Auto LPG, informed Petroleum Ministry.

“Auto LPG sales were observed to have shifted from private to PSU OMCs. To meet the rising demand, the sale of auto LPG by the PSU OMCs has increased by 70 per cent. The major increase has been observed in the States like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Rajasthan and West Bengal, etc,” the ministry said.

Twenty-two states/UTs are receiving additional commercial LPG allocation linked to PNG expansion reforms.

Moreover, since March, more than 4.76 lakh PNG connections have been gasified. Further, more than 5.33 Lakh customers have been registered for new connections.

Till April 17, more than 37,500 PNG consumers have surrendered their LPG connections, said the ministry.

LPG supply continues to be affected by the prevailing geopolitical situation and supply of LPG to domestic households has been prioritised.

“No dry-outs have been reported at LPG distributorships. Online LPG bookings have increased to about 98 per cent across the industry till April 17.

Delivery Authentication Code (DAC) based deliveries have increased to more than 93 per cent to prevent diversion.

On April 17, more than 52 lakh domestic LPG cylinders were delivered.

–IANS

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