The wait for LPG refills is agonising for consumers, as the Petroleum Corporations and their distributors are struggling to clear the backlog caused by the seven-day strike by the LPG bulk transporters twice in January and March.
Even as the bulk LPG is reaching the bottling plants and bottling activities are being stepped up, reports of delay in getting refills have triggered panic booking (booking refill when actually not required, as a precautionary measure).
Market enquiries revealed that the Indane (Indian Oil Corporation) distributors as on date were clearing the refill requests received during February 15-25 thus putting the waiting period for a refill at 27-30 days. HP Gas of Hindusthan Petroleum Corporation was clearing the refill requests of almost the same period. Both these corporations suffered due to the bulk LPG transporters strike. However, Bharatgas of Bharat Petroleum's bottling operations remain normal because the plant is rail fed. Bharatgas is having a waiting period of 15 to 20 days.
Indane, which has bottling plants in Salem, Perundurai and Negamam, is having 500, 600 and 700 tonnes of LPG at these plants respectively. Even as the bottling is on, bulk is on wheels from the refineries and import points towards the bottling plants ensuring uninterrupted bottling. Despite being a holiday on Friday for Ugadi, Indane operated its bottling plants and is planning to operate on Sundays also to step up production to clear the backlog.
While bulk LPG is not a problem and bottling is back in full swing, the panic booking by customers is actually resulting in mounting backlog, say Indane sources. Indane is confident of bringing down the waiting period for LPG refills substantially by operating the bottling plants on holidays.
President of the All India LPG Distributors Federation (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) B. Rajendra said that disturbances in bulk LPG supply during the unrest witnessed over the Mullaperiyar dam row and the strike from January 12 to 19 and again from March 1 to 7 had increased the waiting period for HP Gas refills to 15-20 days. HP Gas had the distinction of anytime refill booking with no stipulated time gap between the previous refill and the next. It was also known for supplying refills within 48 to 72 hours.
Now, HP was losing its image that it had earned over the last 10 years in terms of anytime booking and instant refill supply in the Tamil Nadu market, Mr.Rajendra lamented. To clear the backlog, distributors were not able to get enough rescue loads (the additional loads over and above the normal supply), he added.
He said off-loading from the vessels at Mangalore port had come down from 280 tonnes to 168 tonnes an hour. In addition, any corporation that was not requiring bulk at Mangalore was not able to sell it to a corporation in need because of the 14.5 per cent purchase tax.
The corporations and distributors are now struggling to make sure that the waiting period for refills does not go up any further.
