Wait for new Indane gas connections continues

If you have recently booked an Indane LPG connection, you will have to wait for at least 10 days.

While Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) has been able to reduce the waiting time for refills from 25 days to 8 days, company sources said that new connections will be issued only when the backlog is cleared further.

The company had stopped issuing new connections from July 1 as there was a shortage of cylinders due to a delay in their arrival and in pulling out of old ones.

Every month, Indane issues around 65,000 connections in the State and around 8,000 connections to consumers in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts. The company has 165 distributors who supply around 60,000 refills to 4.5 lakh consumers daily.

Sources in a gas agency in the city suburbs said that despite enough supplies, they still had backlogs since consumers were resorting to panic booking.

“We have been asked to withhold new connections till we are able to supply within two days. Unless consumers get the confidence that they will get the refill in this time span, the situation will not change,” the source said.

Consumer activist T. Sadagopan said that it was unfortunate that the company had taken three months to normalise supply.

“The festive season has begun and consumers are put to unnecessary hardship. There is a lot of demand for LPG cylinders as a lot of software professionals are moving into the city’s outskirts,” he said.