Auto-LPG racket causes gas shortage

KOLKATA: Unscrupulous dealers are creating an artificial shortage of cooking gas in Kolkata by selling off domestic LPG to car owners. Thanks to the illegal trade, consumers are being forced to wait for up to three weeks to get a refill although there is no shortfall in supply from oil companies.
Significantly, the crisis assumed alarming proportions after the price of auto LPG was recently hiked from Rs 28 per litre to Rs 36 per litre.Domestic LPG is heavily subsidized and hence comes much cheaper. Each domestic cooking gas cylinder contains 14.8 kg, which is equivalent to 24 litres of LPG. The current price of 24 litres of auto LPG is Rs 864 while the price of the cylinder is Rs 300. So, an automobile owner is more than happy to shell out Rs 450 ��� Rs 150 extra ��� for a cooking gas cylinder. Even then he makes a near 50% ���saving'.
"Despite rigorous checks, LPG is being diverted from the domestic to the automobile sector. We are entirely dependent on enforcement agencies to prevent this. What we have done is to go all out to normalize the supply. In spite of incurring heavy losses, we are bringing cooking gas cylinders from neighbouring states to overcome the crisis. We hope this problem will be mitigated in another week," said IOC area manager Abhijit Dey.
"Some dealers are working overtime to divert cooking gas at a premium and create an artificial crisis in the domestic front so that people are forced to pay through their noses to get a cylinder," admitted an LPG dealer.
S Banerjee, general manager (LPG) of BPCL said: "There was a minor shortage of supply across the nation but the crisis in the domestic sector is because of diversion. Police have to clamp down on such dubious dealings." Banerjee had a bitter experience while conducting a raid at Lake Town last year. "Some locals beat up my colleague Amit Bhattacharjee. His vocal chord was permanently damaged."
The use of domestic LPG in automobiles is rampant in Kolkata, admit oil officials. "More than 5,000 vehicles have switched to LPG unofficially. Most of them retrofitted by unregistered units, the kits are inferior and don't have the approval of chief controller of explosives," said auto-emission expert S M Ghosh. Such illegal retrofitting is done openly on the streets in Kasba, Ultadanga, Mullickbazar, Manicktala, Kalight, Behala, Bhowanipore, Hooghly and North 24-Parganas but police turn a blind eye, Ghosh added.
"Unscrupulous gas dealers enjoy an evil nexus with these unregistered retro-fitters. Unless the government takes action, the crisis will deepen," said Greater Kolkata Gas Kit Dealers Association spokesman Sarod Jhawar.
There are mechanical and electronic pumps available openly in the market to siphon off LPG from a domestic cylinder and pump it into auto-LPG chambers in cars. Often, domestic cylinders are directly used in cars. But the use of these single-valve cylinders is extremely risky.
"Commercial users also do not mind paying Rs 100 or even Rs 200 extra for a 14.8-kg domestic gas cylinder, which costs Rs 471.50, less than a 19-kg commercial one (Rs 777). That is why almost all restaurants and even roadside eateries use domestic gas, when they are supposed to use commercial ones," said an IOC official.