Adil Khan, a resident of Jangammet has been frequenting the office of the local gas distributor for the last seven days. In spite of his repeated requests and phone calls, there is still no sign of cooking gas being delivered at his residence.
His is not an isolated case. Over the past few weeks, residents of the old city are crying foul over the delay in supply of LPG cylinders. While it normally takes about four to five days for delivery of the cylinder elsewhere in the city, it takes about 10 to 15 days in old city areas.
“We are tired of waiting after booking a cylinder. It takes over 12 days to get it. And once we've run out of gas, there is no other option but to buy food from outside,” says K. Laxman Reddy, a resident of Falaknuma.
But their woes don't end here. Dejected with the distribution of cooking gas, a few residents even thronged gas godowns, enquiring about the status of their booking. With insufficient supply, most of the residents are either forced to borrow cylinders from their relatives and friends or buy kerosene to cook food.
“Following the erratic supply, we have been buying kerosene, which costs about Rs. 30 a litre and is proving heavy on our budget,” says Saleha Begum, another resident.
However, distributors in the area claim that the shortage is due to the recent curfew and truckers strike. “We had a lot of bookings and couldn't deliver due to the curfew and truckers strike. Now we are trying to deliver cylinders as soon as possible,” a distributor at Moghalpura said, pleading anonymity.
